Description: New smartphone applications let almost anyone take payments electronically
Source: Cnn.com
Date: March 1, 2011
Questions for discussion:
What are the implications for small business as a result of the increase of mobile payments?
What industries and application can you predeict will beneifit from this technology?
Simar Duggal
This product helps small business cater to the needs of a consumer and market’s that in this generation are so plastic addicted. The everyday consumer has a credit card, and if small business owners can have this payment option available for the customers they are only making more sales. Like the cupcake business they don’t have to go through the process of going to the bank and setting up a visa card reader in store. The price of the ‘square’ is also very reasonable; to be paying the ‘square’ company and the visa company at once is going to be easier for the company’s using the product. The industries and applications that will benefit form this are small business and business looking to expand the way they get customers to pay. The on the corner hot dog shop, or lemonade stand, can now accept visa cards fast with there Smartphone.
Dustin
I think this is great for small business. It makes it alot more conveinent versus like they said going to the bank and setting up debit and credit machines. And its great for people that dont carry cash just to swip it and be done. It would be great for people that have a small buisness and only accept cash. this is easy and take not a lot of effort to pick it up.
I think the industries that would benefit are the hotdog guys at sporting events that walk around and sell burger or hotdogs. This way they dont have to fiddle with change and coins etc, just swip and eat. Also i think it would be cool to “bump” money. so if you need some money or a gift or anything. simply just “bump” the other phone, and you have your money. The only down side I see is if someone lost it and it ended up in the wrong hands. But Im sure there will be some sort of codes you would have to access it.
Landon
I think that some of the implications may be an increase in convenience for customers. Since so many people pay with debit/credit cards, getting a smart phone or iPad will enable them to better serve customers, maybe even get a few more customers that they may have once lost by only accepting cash.
One industry that has already benefitted from this type of system is the shipping industry, purolator, UPS, etc., when they come to the door and you need to pay a shipping fee, the delivery man accepts credit card as a form of payment, then signing the handheld using a stylus. The small vendors on the streets can benefit from this since it will speed up the transaction process, not having to count change all the time. If they increase the amount of customers being served then the vendor will increase profits. All in all, any business could benefit from this, whether it be small or large.
With using the smart phone as a way to pay instead of using a credit/debit card, my concern lies with how secure this is. If you lose your phone, you are also losing your credit card at the same time. Have to see what they do with that technology, but security of it is a concern.
John
This is an amazing technology. The implications for small businesses are huge! Instead of taking the long drawn out and expensive process of getting setup with a credit card company, you can just phone these guys up, get a square, set it up, download the app, and start taking your customers money. 2.75% seems a little high of a transaction fee, but I don’t know what the rate standards are for the industry in general. Any business that does any type of mobile work could also benefit from this technology, such as mobile home care, or rug cleaning, or lemonade / bbqs. It would be great technology to be used for fund raising events as well. I know, I personally, never carry around any cash, so this to me seems like the next best thing. Yes, if you lose your phone you could lose your credit card info and such, but its the same as losing your wallet right now. If we can integrate these technologies all into 1, it is just one less thing for me to haul around and worry about losing.
Hugh F
The main impacts for small businesses I think are primarily in the overhead costs and cleanliness in point of sale transactions. Now instead of having an independent piece of hardware, just a simple app and a small hardware plug-in strongly challenges the norm entirely. For a company like Safeway or Walmart, this will have no cost advantage to their current system but on the other hand, especially for really small business owners (artists, street vendors, musicians ect), this is a hassle and overhead cost that now doesn’t exist. It may be looking too far into it but this could be one of those products that push a lot more money back into the small business world given that it opens up credit purchases to people that might not have been able to afford the bother or hardware.
One industry I am interested in when it comes to this new product is the criminal aspect of it. As soon as there are large amounts of transactions being done over one medium, you can’t help but expect that someone is going to try and take advantage for personal gain.
DC
They are several implications this new development will have on small businesses, it will increase the number of business transactions per day from customers hence increasing sales and profit. This is due to the fact that people are going to find it way easier to make a purchase without going through the stress of banking services. Phone companies like Blackberry and I phones will benefit the most from this development because everyone will have to purchase their smart phones for transactional purposes. Retail services will also benefit from this development, its more convenience for their customers, however this development might lead to a drastic rise in unemployment, from the look of this technological development companies will not need as many cashiers as before. All they will need is someone who facilitates customers’ errors and inquiries like the case of Superstore with their self serving cashiering system. It will be very interesting to wait for at least 10 years and see where this technological advancement will take us.
Brenda Bicharr
WOW!! i love this technology. WOW!! i am very amazed. I think it is awesome. i know how long and difficult it is for small companies to set up credit card payments for their stores. Companies even charge clients more because of this extra charge from credit card payments. This not only reduces small entrepreneurs cost of production but it also reduces the cost to the consumer.
I am very impressed with apple and the applications. People are yet to see that this is world changing technology. In the real world credit card companies have almost if not no competition at all. Now this technology would spread so quickly and make them step up their game when it comes to comes to trying to please the consumer.
the only concern i have however is personally information would become very vulnerable in this situation. The small business’ information, then again that is a general problem with new wireless technology. God bless the makers.! this is amazing!
Jatinder Aulakh
-What are the implications for small business as a result of the increase of mobile payments?
-What industries and application can you predeict will beneifit from this technology?
I think this is great for small business; I am amazed what smart phones can do now. It feels like everything we do now is related to smart phones. However, even though there are many advantages to this there are some implications for small business in the increase of mobility payments. Some people like to pay for their products by cash and by having this mobile payment in a small business could result in losing some customers, because not everyone prefers using a smart phone to pay. Also, another implication of this technology would be for consumer because if they end up losing their smart phone or leaving it somewhere around work anyone could get their credit card information.
I think small business such cupcake shops or school food fairs can benefit from this technology because students love their smart phones and do use credit cards for transactions.
Clayton Varjassy
It’s interesting when you realize that this “square” device comes from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. Kevin Rose actually interviewed him about this specific product on his show foundation (http://revision3.com/foundation/jackdorsey). It’s a brilliant concept and it’s interesting to know that the reason Dorsey came up with this concept was because a friend of his lost out on the sale of a painting worth several thousand because he couldn’t accept mastercard. Because Square acts as a sort of middleman between the retailer and the credit card company, users are able to set up with very little ease. I think the 2.75% fee is reasonable when you consider that credit card companies charge you transaction fee’s when you use their machines anyway, and with square you save significantly on initial costs. I think we will start seeing products like square more and more in almost all areas of business, especially in small businesses.
Derek Wilson
This is absolutely fantastic! I never even thought of something like this! This kind of technology will make the banks and credit card companies think twice about how they do business and how much they charge for these kinds of services. I believe that this will put the pressure on the credit and debit card service providers, as well as the banks to provide a more hassle free process. The 2.75% seems like a big chunk, but to save a huge headache, it seems quite worth it. This kind of technology is an absolute godsend for small businesses and businesses that are on the move. The trend is moving away from cash and more to plastic; in this day and age it is essential for every business owner. This cuts out the hassle of setting up all these different processes and this makes it really easy to just make money.
whyte
This is a great idea for small businesses everywhere. In a time when big box stores and brand names rule the market place this is a technology that can give the “mom and pop” stores and small vendors the chance to perform credit card transactions opens them up to a greater market segment that they otherwise would not have. The potential increase in revenue that small businesses could experience would help their bottom line significantly, especially when the cost of the system is so low. The only worry I would have is security. Mobile devices are often not the most secure technologies. As a small business owner I would want to ensure that the security of my customers information is not being threatened, because if my system is not secure customers will likely go elsewhere.
I would say that, other than small businesses, Apple is likely to benefit form this the most. If this type of technology catches on they can market their products as POS systems as well. It adds yet another item to the endless “there is an app for that” list.
Ashleigh
Having different ways of credit card transactions will benefit small businesses, or simple vendors and even small lemonade stands greatly as a result of an increase of the availability of mobile payments. As stated in the video, it is a much easier and more efficient way for a point of sale and to avoid the hassle of setting up a merchant account and that can be costly. It will also benefit industries that are currently just cash only. Not a lot of people carry around cash anymore therefore with the simple application and the swipe of a card this can be made possible. The profits will most likely increase in those businesses because it will be increasing their attractiveness to consumers, as they will have the opportunity to pay in different ways therefore increasing sales and transactions in any given day.
Todd McCune
The implications for small business as the result of increased mobile payments include efficiency as far as time, accessibility, and cost effectiveness. The “square” will make credit card transactions much easier for small business who are on the go and who don’t like the hassle and costs of setting up with credit card machines. Business people on the go who provide services can receive payment on their smartphone wherever they are and won’t need to bill their clients or have them go to the main office of their business.
This will benefit a number of industries. I think the restaurant industry could find this helpful and beneficial to those paying their bills to waiters. Instead of having to wait for one or two debit machines to be passed around or having to go to the front of the restaurant to pay, customers will be able to pay thier bill quickly and easily from their table and be able to conveniently leave the restaurant. This would also be effective for anyone who does door to door selling such as satellite or security systems because they will be able to accept payment right at the point of sale on their smartphone and will not have to bill people at a later date and worry if their sale went through or not.
Jenn Oloya
Increase of mobility payments will greatly help small business lower their overhead cost. It cost a lot of money in order to start up a debit and credit card system and a product like the plug will help cut those costs. It is advantage for small businesses and customers because mobile devices allow the business to accept any type of credit card and debit card which some stores now only accept either visa or MasterCard to avoid the high fees of having both. This therefor will bring in more transactions from customers who otherwise would not have purchases from that store ‘cause they didn’t have the correct type of card.
I think that all industries will benefit from this technology, because it makes it easier for customers to pay, but the businesses that will see the biggest and fastest benefit would be small business such as the mom and pop shop or the at home business because they don’t have to purchase a debit and credit card system.
Prab Grewal
I think that mobile transactions on Smartphone’s are a great idea. An argument I see could be the security issues. For example if you lose your phone can someone use your lost phone to make purchases? Also there will be a lot of glitches at first which would personally turn me away from this new technology but if it’s proven to be more convienent and secure over time I would use it. It would also be great not to carry so many things around like a deck of cards in your wallet. The only down side is if your network coverage is down or your batteries out you can’t buy anything so it’s not something we should rely on. Eventually our smart phone will be the only thing we need, when we leave the house, it will start your car it can be your house key and with this technology it’s pretty much our method of payment.
Rio P
The implications are huge for this device. Small businesses are available to reach more customers in a faster time. In the video, the example of using only the iPad as the register saves the small business money in set up times for credit card transactions as well as credit card transaction equipment. As well, this allows those businesses that are cash only stands (such as a hot dog stand) to reach a wider consumer base because people hardly carry cash anymore; we are addicted to plastic. One problem that could potentially arise is the likelihood of identity theft and stealing your phone. However, there is always associated risks when experimenting and using technology that requires you to submit your personal information. I think this is a great idea, and I could potentially see myself using it in the future.