payments

26 'payments' stories May 2013 - September 2013

PayPal for iPhone redesigned, adds ability to pay at local shops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRdRwyFceJY

Today, PayPal has announced a significant update to its iPhone app. Ahead of iOS 7, the application has been completely redesigned with a simpler, flatter user-interface.

Feature-wise, the app update focuses around mobile payments. With a new “Shop” tab, users of the new PayPal app can find restaurants, shops, and venues that support paying with PayPal. On top of that, some of these shops even support purchasing and paying for food or another item before walking into the store.

As explained to TechCrunch, some of these shops even support coupons. Ordering ahead includes the nice benefit of skipping the line. Another feature that goes nice with the “Shop” feature is the ability to pay a restaurant bill via the app.

Groupon launches POS app to expand payments service for merchants to iPad

Update, Tues, May 14: It looks like the Groupon POS was launched prematurely and has now been pulled from the App Store. However, today Groupon appears to have rolled out the app as the new Breadcrumb POS app that will now be the face of its payments service for merchants. The old Breadcrumb app, which Groupon acquired last year, will now be called “Breadcrumb Pro”.

It appears Groupon is today launching a mobile payments app dubbed “Groupon POS” that will rival Square’s Register app and allow merchants to accept and manage payments directly from an iPad. The company has yet to make an official announcement but the app is already live on the App Store here.

Last year Groupon launched a similar app for iPhone called Groupon Merchants alongside its Groupon Payments service that allows business owners to accept payments through a credit card reader available for iOS devices.

The new Groupon POS app appears to be a scaled back version of the Breadcrumb POS app that the company acquired last year with the iTunes page noting that it best suited “for a wide variety of merchants from cafes and delis, to salons, spas, and florists.”

The iTunes page also says the app will work “with an optional cash drawer and printer,” although its unclear if Groupon plans to sell the hardware directly to customers like Square recently started doing with its business in a box offer.

We’ll update with a link to Groupon’s official announcement when/if it makes one.