iZettle Mobile Payment Device Heads for UK
Service allows individuals and small businesses to accept payments via plastic.
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.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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abbadon_34 as if the majors weren't enough, not the "everyman" can get raped by credit card fees. No real improvement here, just the same in a new place. But at least it's not paypal.Reply -
zybch Looks incredibly bulky compared to PayPal's 'here' device, which is also free rather than £20 and 2.4% instead of this system's 2.75% of each transaction.Reply -
duffpaul Well, to be honest both iZettle and PayPal Here's device both look bulky and an inconvenience to someone like myself who likes my "mobile" devices to be really handy and slim. I prefer mPowa (www.mpowa.com) in the UK.Reply -
zybch duffpaulWell, to be honest both iZettle and PayPal Here's device both look bulky and an inconvenience to someone like myself who likes my "mobile" devices to be really handy and slim. I prefer mPowa (www.mpowa.com) in the UK.True, but one is still almost 3 times the size of the other and costs an initial £20 less to buy and .35% less to use.Reply
An NFC based system would be nice (and no dongle needed except with apple phones) but its still too new to have had its security model to be adequately tested and locked down.