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Mophie and Intuit Challenge Square for iPhone Merchant Market

by Terrence O'Brien on August 26, 2010 at 04:00 PM

Complete Card Solution for iPhone
If you had told us a few months back that mobile merchant credit card systems would become a serious battleground in the smartphone world, we probably would have told you that you were insane. Surely, the market for credit card-scanning iPhone peripherals would be incredibly small, right? Apparently it's not, and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's 'Square' won't be able to monopolize the mobile-merchant market. Mophie and Intuit have partnered to present the 'Complete Card Solution' for iPhone.

The $179 software and hardware package is currently available in the Apple Store, and should appear on the Apple website soon. At $179 up front and $12.95 a month, 'Complete Card Solution' does require more of an initial investment than Square, but the percentage of each payment collected by Intuit and Mophie is usually 1.7-percent (although it can be as high as 3.7-percent), significantly less than Square's typical share of 2.75- to 3.5-percent.

With the ability to support up to 50 users per account, and with its lower processing fees, 'Complete Card Solution' may be attractive to small and mid-sized companies with mobile sales teams, while 'Square' may maintain an edge with individuals who process fewer payments, and don't require deep integration with QuickBooks. One thing that will likely hinder the Intuit and Mophie system, though, is compatibility. Whereas 'Square' will work with any iOS or Android device, and has BlackBerry and Windows Mobile versions in the works, 'Complete Card Solution' is limited to the iPhone 3G and 3GS. An iPhone 4-compatible version is forthcoming, but it's unclear when it will hit the market.

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