Apple Pay is certainly a threat to Square, but I'm sure Apple doesn't care about POS terminals and that's a pretty huge market on its own.
On top of that, Square Cash is right now the absolute easiest way to send somebody money. Just a moment ago I sent a friend $45 in less than 60 seconds with a single email. Instantly I'm emailed back with a confirmation that the cash will be in his account in 1 or 2 days. In my experience he'll have the cash tomorrow.
Not entirely sure how different it is in the US but I (UK) can send money from my bank account to a friend's one and he/she gets the money in less than 20 seconds.
You need to know the sort code / account number you're sending money to which is written on the cards the first time, after that it's already saved in my bank portal and I can just select them
>I sent a friend $45 in less than 60 seconds with a single email. Instantly I'm emailed back with a confirmation that the cash will be in his account in 1 or 2 days
It's a big but difficult market. Beyond mom-and-pop shops it becomes more and more like enterprise software with expensive sales and support costs.. only without the enterprise margins.
I wouldn't say Apple Pay is a threat to Square Register. If anything it might even drive POS upgrades which Square could benefit from. Having said that, Square does need to diversify beyond POS systems and payment processing, and Apple Pay puts another nail in the coffin of Square's foray into payment instruments (Square Wallet), which they already pre-emptively killed.
Unfortunately Square Cash operates at a loss. If it were possible not to operate at a loss there'd be a million competitors overnight.
In Canada, we've had Interac providing transfers for a number of years. All you need is the person's email address or mobile number and you can send them money with the ability to specify a passphrase to pick it up. Once picked up, the recipient has access to the cash instantly. No delays and, in my experience, no fees either... though that's subject to whatever banking plan you have.
And with the being said, is 6B really that unrealistic of a buying price for Apple to get a quick jump in share of the market? Or for that matter any of the other competitors in the Apple scale space knowing they need to accelerate their offerings in light of Apple Pay?
On top of that, Square Cash is right now the absolute easiest way to send somebody money. Just a moment ago I sent a friend $45 in less than 60 seconds with a single email. Instantly I'm emailed back with a confirmation that the cash will be in his account in 1 or 2 days. In my experience he'll have the cash tomorrow.