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back to article Wobbly swipe reader Square gulps down another $200m

Beloved son of the Twitterati Square has swallowed another $200m in VC cash, apparently pegging the company at a value of $3.25bn. Square didn't invent credit card readers of course, neither did it create the first card terminal on an iPhone, but it does have Twitter-founder Jack Dorsey's name attached, and the tacit approval …

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  1. Mark Zip
    WTF?

    "VeriFone's Sail alternative has, arguably, better security..."

    VeriFone's Sail alternative has, arguably, better security...

    Please advise source and details for this claim.

    While it's true that the original Square did not encrypt the data stream coming out of the dongle and into the device, that is no longer the case. Perhaps something in the back end processes is the root for this claim?

    I have used the Square since late 2010 and I have been very pleased with it. Canceling mistaken charges is no problem and I have never had any disputes from customers.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Err?

    I don't get it? How is this company, who's product is based AFAIK on magstripe & signature, managed to get its hands on $200M in venture capital and furthermore how has it managed to get a market valuation in excess of $3BN? Do the investors not realise that it will be laughed out of any regulator's office in most of the rest of the world, due to reliance on ancient old technology? Are they intending to release a chip and pin version? There isn't a single mention of it on their web site.

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    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge
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      Re: Err?

      Do the investors not realise that it will be laughed out of any regulator's office in most of the rest of the world

      They presumably expect they can be bribed just as usual.

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  3. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

    Valley Capitalism at its finest

    Another $200m for a system based on obsolete technology, with no international growth potential, that makes small-time credit-card fraud easy. I need the number of that VC...

    But it runs on an iPhone, I guess, so that makes it innovative?

    Square's other business line, in biometric pay-in-person systems, may have potential, but these have limited takeup, and offer busy merchants a much longer transaction time than NFC wallet systems, with lower security and the need to buy an iPad as a POS system...

    The VCs are pumping this turkey up so that it'll look good enough for VISA (already a stakeholder) to acquire it.

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    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge
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      Re: Valley Capitalism at its finest

      Yep, the lack on EFT infrastructure in America makes this and it's distant, similarly ginger-haired distant cousin, PayPal, immensely appealing there while the rest of the civilised word looks on and wonders what all the fuss is about.

      As discussed on <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/08/retail-payments-0>The Economist</a> Square might have some value above and beyond simply facilitating payments. I'm not holding my breath on that, but then I'm not a VC!

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