The Square
The Square
The idea of a paperless monetary system takes a big leap forward thanks to the Square credit card reader. No longer is there a need for an expensive credit card machine that is fixed to a land line. Owners of an iPhone, iPad, or an Android device are now able to swipe credit card payments anywhere at anytime and have it deposited directly into their bank account. The Square is a 1 3/4” x 9/10” x 1/2” cubed shaped plastic piece of hardware that plugs directly into the 3.5mm audio jack of a device. From there it works with an application that must be downloaded and installed. Once installation is complete there is a simple setup procedure to connect the application to the desired bank account and it’s ready. After the account is setup access to the service is just a touch of the screen away every time. With the application open select the” swipe card” option. The “swipe card” option has a cheaper service charge than the “enter numbers” option. After that you will be able to take a picture of the merchandise being sold. Then, enter the amount to be charged hit enter and swipe the card. The card information will pop up on the screen for confirmation. Finally, the customer must sign their name on the touch screen and a receipt is sent to their email. A glass artist named Jim Mckelvey founder of Square, Inc. came up with this idea after he lost a $2000 sale because he couldn’t accept credit cards. He contacted his friend Jack Dorsey (creator of Twitter) and after 15 months of development in May of 2010, Square, Inc. introduced the product to the market. In 2011 Square, Inc. was reported to be worth 3.2 billion dollars and had 250 employees. The company is located in San Francisco, California but the Square itself is manufactured by PCH International in China. The device contains technology that converts the information on a cards magnetic strip to an audio signal which is translated by the iPhone, iPad, or Android software into digital information
The idea of a paperless monetary system takes a big leap forward thanks to the Square credit card reader. No longer is there a need for an expensive credit card machine that is fixed to a land line. Owners of an iPhone, iPad, or an Android device are now able to swipe credit card payments anywhere at anytime and have it deposited directly into their bank account. The Square is a 1 3/4” x 9/10” x 1/2” cubed shaped plastic piece of hardware that plugs directly into the 3.5mm audio jack of a device. From there it works with an application that must be downloaded and installed. Once installation is complete there is a simple setup procedure to connect the application to the desired bank account and it’s ready. After the account is setup access to the service is just a touch of the screen away every time. With the application open select the” swipe card” option. The “swipe card” option has a cheaper service charge than the “enter numbers” option. After that you will be able to take a picture of the merchandise being sold. Then, enter the amount to be charged hit enter and swipe the card. The card information will pop up on the screen for confirmation. Finally, the customer must sign their name on the touch screen and a receipt is sent to their email. A glass artist named Jim Mckelvey founder of Square, Inc. came up with this idea after he lost a $2000 sale because he couldn’t accept credit cards. He contacted his friend Jack Dorsey (creator of Twitter) and after 15 months of development in May of 2010, Square, Inc. introduced the product to the market. In 2011 Square, Inc. was reported to be worth 3.2 billion dollars and had 250 employees. The company is located in San Francisco, California but the Square itself is manufactured by PCH International in China. The device contains technology that converts the information on a cards magnetic strip to an audio signal which is translated by the iPhone, iPad, or Android software into digital information
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