(Image courtesy of Wired)If you’ve been looking for a better way to accept credit cards with your iPhone, Intuit and Mophie have teamed up and may just have the perfect solution for you — assuming you’re still rockin’ an older iPhone 3G or 3GS, …
The Complete Credit Card Solution combines Mophie’s credit card scanner for the iPhone 3G and 3GS with a mobile app from Intuit to help mobile businesses collect payments on the go.
The iPhone can do many things — and processing credit card transactions is already one of them, thanks to a veritable host of App Store apps for just that purpose. But have you ever seen a credit card actually swiped into the device?
Gizmodo has turned up a YouTube video with Digg founder Kevin Rose schilling for Square’s forthcoming credit card swiping hardware and accompanying app, a trial of which was first reported in December. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is the man behind the service (and Rose himself is an investor), which plans to roll out officially sometime this year.
In addition to making it easier for small business to accept credit cards from virtually anywhere thanks to the hardware dongle, the Square software appears to be a lot more streamlined than the other current offerings as well. Cardholders can sign using the iPhone’s multitouch screen and even receive a receipt via e-mail or the web, complete with a small Google Map indicating where the purchase was made.
Judging from the video below, the process is pretty streamlined, with the possible exception of the hardware dongle itself — for some inexplicable reason, it uses the audio jack instead of the dock connector. Our guess is that this is designed to circumvent the hefty fees that Apple charges developers who want access to the dock connector, but given the fragile nature of the 1/8-inch plug, we think it won’t be long before somebody snaps the Square dongle off inside the jack. (iPhone case designer Mophie has also announced a credit card reader which they showed off at CES this month, which solves the Square dongle problem by building the reader into the case itself.)
Otherwise, the Square service appears to do what it promises and do it well. The company promises that the service won’t require any contracts or monthly fees (presumably outside of a merchant account?) when it launches this year.
Sick and tired of all the crappy wannabe television streaming devices
on your iPhone and iPod Touch? FloTV has a dedicated broadcast network
of high quality video that emulates broadcast television. Mophie and
FloTV have teamed up together to create an attachable broadcast antenna
for your mobile devices, so you can hone in on live television anywhere
you are. Stay tuned for this exciting product later this year.
Note: By default the video player is muted, turn up the volume before pressing play.
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The announcement that FLO TV is coming to your iPhone by way of a chunky dock-connected attachment may be yesterday’s news (last November to be exact), but word out of CES 2010 is that the company has teamed with Juice Pack maker Mophie to streamline the whole shebang.
The concept of mobile TV on your iPhone or iPod touch just got a lot more exciting with the news today of FLO TV partnering with Mophie to put their Live FLO hardware into the cutting-edge Juice Pack, according to Engadget.
Now, not only will you get oodles more battery life out of your device, but you can view your favorite live entertainment, sports and news from the world’s top entertainment brands as well. FLO TV already boasts many of the largest broadcast & cable networks including ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, ESPN, Fox, MTV, NBC, TLC and many others.
“We are uniting our vision of advancing mobile TV across a range of devices and platforms with Mophie’s unrivaled expertise in designing intelligent cases for Apple users,” said Bill Stone, president of FLO TV. “Together, our solution will be a true live mobile TV product available to iPhone and iPod touch users.”
Mophie, designer of the world’s thinnest Apple-certified external battery & protective case, is equally excited about the possibilities. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to elevate our intelligent case design through this creative product collaboration and deliver the ultimate mobile television experience for iPhone users,” said Shawn Dougherty, vice president.
The new products will integrate Mophie’s intelligent case design with a built-in FLO TV receiver that allows iPhone and iPod touch users to watch live television at the flip of a switch, while using the device as back-up battery power in-between charges.
Needless to say, a FLO TV subscription will be required in addition to the new Mophie Juice Pack, and the fruits of the new partnership aren’t expected to ship until the first half of this year.
