Square app offers mobile transactions
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has just launched yet another new venture, one that has the potential to meet a pressing need in digital payments. Square is an iPhone app that allows people to make credit card payments using only their phone. The system works by using a small device that plugs into the headphone jack and collects the cards swipe data, then users can sign on the phone’s screen to complete the transaction. In addition to its basic function of processing payments, Square also claims to simplify the sales and record keeping process for both retailers and customers by offering several features such as directly emailing receipts to customers, adding meta data such as location to receipts and allowing retailers to set up alternate workflows for common transactions.
Whilst it is unclear whether customers have to already have an account to benefit from most of Square’s features, this is definitely an exciting release for small retailers. Not only will small businesses such as couriers, street vendors and market stall holders be able to cheaply and easily accept credit card transactions, but larger retailers can now also offer on-the-spot transactions to rival the Apple Store’s system with minimal overhead.
Square is not yet available in Australia, but we look forward to getting our hands on it and seeing how the app works. We have recently conducted research for a number of clients looking at attitudes towards mobile payments, especially in the area of security. What we have seen is that products like Square will quite likely face a challenge when it comes to overcoming user’s perception that mobile and online payments are not secure. The behaviors we have observed suggest that, regardless of fact, people still see online transactions as carrying a higher risk than traditional transactions (yes, people will happily give their credit card to a stranger over the phone yet not enter it into a secure form on Amazon), and mobile transactions are even further out of there comfort zones. So the first step that a product like this will have to make is to ensure its design suggests safety and security, and to step users through the process and why certain steps are necessary in order to alleviate any security concerns.
Hopefully Square will be able to overcome the issues and persuade people that using it for payments is a safe alternative. The iPhone (and now the iPad) have opened up a new platform offering interactions that may not previously have been considered, and designers and developers are rising to the challenge of designing for these interactions with vigour.