Simply, Square is a company that will let you make credit or debit card transactions from a smartphone. Square is a new company who has a founder from another interesting company, twitter.
Credit and debit card transactions take all kinds of devices physical and technical including merchant accounts that cost you a bundle each month whether you make a transaction or not. This is difficult for small businesses, sole proprietors, craftspeople, and artists.
The story is that “In February 2009, Jim McKelvey wasn’t able to sell a piece of his glass art because he couldn’t accept a credit card as payment” and the next day Square was born.
The whole process seems terribly slow for a small transaction but the advantages of marketing offers to frequent customers, an identity verification system, text and e-mail receipts, and transactions to the cloud make it a player in this service space.
Ok, I don’t have an iPhone yet. Basically because I wasn’t willing to be an early adopter this time. Now I’m more interested. Video capabilities and the addition of interfacing with third party devices is very compelling. My almost dead Razr is another.
I have a love/hate relationship with my Razr. I love that it is a flip phone. I hate that my contacts have a different entry for each number rather than grouped by person. I love that my phone is small and sturdy. I hate that I can’t read the keys in the bright sun. I love that my phone can take being dropped. I hate that I have to listen to a whole message before I can delete it. I hate that texting is impossible.
I love that it has the Motorolla logo – the bat signal on it. And most of all I love that Jack the Cingular logo is still on my phone. I hate ATT.
So, I’m sure I will have the same relationship with my iPhone. I’ll love my iPhone but I will still hate ATT.
But, I’ll have lots of apps that I can’t wait to get my hands on.
Koi Pond, Bloom, Spore, Level, Compass, Pandora, iTunes, Tweetie, Bloom, Shazamm …
What if every object could tell its own story? Haven’t you wished that you could just google anything? Well if you use RFID you can get information from any object that has an electronic tag. Each object in a way is a smart object.
If you have a reader attached to a device like a smart device, in this case an iPhone. You can come in proximity of the object and tell you the object’s story. It’s pretty interesting technology that can be used say for touring museums. You step up to a painting or sculpture and put your iphone next to the label. It recognizes the painting and allows you to see content about the work. Add links to sources on the net and an expantion of information based on your interests.
Rumor has it an app is coming to the iPhone that Hulu junkies will be thrilled about. I watch a little hulu here and there. I’m usually unimpressed. I don’t watch tv and don’t really appreciate the story format. But, hulu has a terrific interaction model and with limited titles to view; the selection interface remains simple.
I watch much more video than I thought I would on the iPhone. I’m always checking out what’s on YouTube and it’s great to have a video format that isn’t an immersion at times. Can’t wait to test the iPhone and hulu. Let’s see if the app can be as approachable as hulu in the browser.
The iPhone platform continues to grow with each new distribution method that develops.
I crawl around the iphone store now and again to add more fodder to my need for an iPhone. Here is a really cool app that solves one of the problems that drives me crazy from time to time. I use my laptop for almost everything — that means no number keys. I hate the extended keyboards because they just take up too much space on my desk.
{ Do you remember when you could buy a numberpad to attach to your keyboard when you needed it? I had one of those clunky beige things that worked by plugging it into my keyboard… I used it for keying in coordinates for objects in my vector files or layout applications. Most of all I used it when creating schedules and I had to put in date fields. }
Well, here’s a sweet little iPhone app that lets you turn your iPhone into a number keypad.
I’m dizzy from “if it’s wednesday and a full moon and you were previously a friends and family customer” you can expect to pay up to 50% more on your ATT bill.
Well, maybe an iPhone just isn’t want I am longing for anymore. It’s just not any fun. Who wants to go into the braintrust they call the ATT store? Who wants to figure it all out? Sorry no SMS messages are included with your plan.
I would have rather payed 500 dollars for the iphone and known the ATT couldn’t do this lets screw the customers again routine. Apple and their exclusive deal sucks. I’m out. Too much money. I can open my browser and play my music from my laptop thank you.
I just say no.
Somehow this reminds me of the new gallon milk carton that you need instruction to use. I guess that’s another post.
@WiredFeed get real amazon could give the kindle away and it would work out for them just as well. Amazon is a supply channel. in reply to WiredFeed1 day ago
