Square announced that 100 local business owners in the U.S. are getting its new reader, which enables them to accept chip cards and mobile payments like Apple Pay. According to the company, these businesses are the first set of local businesses to have access to “the same new technologies that big corporations often invest in.”
Among those businesses are Honey Butter Fried Chicken in Chicago, Philz Coffee in San Francisco, Sump Coffee in St. Louis, Cafe Grumpy in New York City. Over 20 businesses in the Urbanspace Vanderbilt food hall in New York are also using the new reader. Others are spread out throughout Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, D.C.
“Announced in June, the contactless and chip card reader is a wireless reader that comes ready out of the box, connects with Square Stand or a mobile device, and pairs seamlessly with Square’s free point-of-sale app,” says Square. “To make a payment, all a customer has to do is hold their device near the reader or insert their chip card. The reader then initiates the payment and the whole transaction just takes seconds to complete.”
“With the iPhone’s fingerprint technology (Touch ID), a signature is no longer required,” the company adds. “The new reader meets the highest standards of security because it optimizes for accepting authenticated payments like EMV and contactless (like Apple Pay and Android Pay).”
Square of course went public last week, trading as SQ on the New York Stock Exchange.
Image via Square