Square debuts at Apple site and stores
According to TechCrunch, Square has succeeded in placing its dongle on the Apple online store, with in-store availability reported to start this week. The Square dongle is a simple attachment that plugs into the audio outlet on an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad that allows Square customers to swipe and read credit card data for use with its mobile point-of-sale application.
This is the first time Square has made its card reader available in a brick-and-mortar location.
Though the market for mobile POS solutions working on iPhones is relatively crowded, with competing solutions from Intuit, Sage Payments Solutions and VeriFone, the Square dongle will be the only payment product available on Apple's online store or through its retail locations.
The cost of the dongle on the Apple site is $9.95 and comes with a $10 credit for Square services. It is still available for free through the Square site. Square customers pay 2.75 percent of each credit card transaction made through the application.