Category: payments

Apple, AuthenTec and the future of the iPhone

I read this:

With Apple rumored to be attempting to acquire a security solutions provider, a new move by AuthenTec to sell a portion of its business suggests Apple is most interested in its fingerprint scanning technology.

Apple bought this company in July for about 350 million dollars. And it makes me think: if Apple puts a fingerprint sensor on the home button of the iPhone, they could enter the mobile payments industry by the big door. Plus, they already have so many credit cards with one-click purchases on iTunes and the App Store, it really looks like a logical next step. 

Why Square is the next big thing

Farhad Manjoo:

I believe the tech industry’s next great company is Square. If you’ve heard of Jack Dorsey’s three-year-old firm, you likely think of it as a payments startup. Square is famous for its white plastic card reader, a device that lets small businesses use phones and tablets to accept credit cards. But calling Square a mere payments company minimizes its potential, and it misses Dorsey’s world-changing mission.

Square is currently processing 8 billion on a yearly basis. So, they’re already big. But Manjoo sees Square grow even further:

Dorsey is bent on creating frictionless commerce. His long-term goal is to make accepting payments a breeze for businesses, and he wants to make paying for stuff invisible—for everyone, across the entire economy, for all types of goods and services. If Square succeeds in that mission, it will become a persistent, ever-present part of our daily lives. You’ll use it every time you engage with businesses—which might mean you’ll interact with Square more often than Google, Facebook, Amazon, or even Apple.

If someone can make this, it has to be Jack Dorsey.