Mobile payments company iZettle this week announced the launch of its service in the United Kingdom. iZettle revealed that it has partnered with Everything Everywhere (parent company of Orange, T-Mobile and EE), to make the service available to mobile users in the UK. Users will be able to purchase iZettle's chip-card readers for £20 each in EE stores around the country.
The device will allow small business owners or individuals to take payments via credit card. Similar to Square, which is popular in the United States, the service first launched in Sweden in the summer of 2011 and is now available to individuals and small businesses across Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Germany. Up until this week, it had been operating in beta in the UK.
"The beauty of iZettle is that it's simple to use, totally secure and takes seconds for a transaction," said Jacob de Geer, CEO and co-founder of iZettle. "Whether you are a cabbie, florist, tradesperson or a courier, iZettle gives you the flexibility to operate in both cash and cards. The possibilities are endless because hundreds of thousands of small business can now take plastic. We are very excited about our full commercial launch in the UK and the positive results of our Beta test with 4,000 users over the past six months."
The service currently accepts payments made using Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Diners Club and is available for iOS and Android. Customers that purchase the £20 dongle will also be gifted a £20 voucher to use for iZettle transaction fees, which are charged at 2.75 percent of each transaction.
