A Jan. 31, 2013, Verizon Wireless blog post revealed that Verizon stores nationwide are selling the Square Inc. card reader. Verizon thus joined a growing number of national distributors for Square's mobile payment acceptance hardware.
Commonly called a dongle, the Square card reading device allows for the processing of mag stripe credit and debit card payments. Square charges 2.75 percent for swiped transactions and 3.5 percent plus 15 cents for manually keyed transactions. The technology is designed for both Android and iOS platforms.
Verizon is selling Square's card readers for $9.97. Customers receive a $10 credit to a Square account with their purchase, a deal similar to what other Square distributors offer. Starbucks Inc. began selling the Square card readers in its 7,000 U.S. stores late in 2012. Angie's List, a national consumer review service, reported Jan. 30, 2013, it will offer wireless Square payments as part of the services it offers to its 1.7 million paid subscribers through the Angie's List Business Center mobile app.
Verizon's decision to offer Square card readers to its customers comes as the company is denying Google Inc.'s mobile payment offering, Google Wallet, access to its phones. Attorney Jason Klimek filed a complaint against Verizon with the Federal Communications Commission in October 2012, alleging Verizon violated its network agreement with the FCC when it chose to disable or block the Google Wallet on Verizon devices.
Idalia Charles, a Verizon executive responsible for corporate relations in the northeastern United States, denied the company is blocking Google Wallet in a Nov. 29, 2012, letter to the FCC.
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