May 19, 2010
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News: Inner Fence Squares Off With Dorsey
Earlier this month we reported on the little device named Square that turns your iPhone into a credit card payment processing machine. Today we're here to tell you about the Square's competition, Inner Fence. Actually released prior to the Square, Inner Fence utilizes an iPhone application to give users the capabilities of turning their phone into a credit card processing machine. The two companies are about to face off once more as Inner Fence announced that it has partnered with Merchant Focus Processing, the company's credit card payment processor to purchase the AppNinjas.
According to TechFlash, Inner Fence's co-founder Derek Del Conte the company will be releasing the hardware based credit card processing system within the next 45 days. The move will certainly put more pressure on Jack Dorsey, the founder of the Square, who will no longer have total market share. We know that the Square is a hardware based system that makes connection between a small credit card reader with the iPhone headphone jack. However, Del Conte hasn't released details on the company's new device, but he did note that it would operate with a physical card reader that is quicker than its current keypad system.
Del Conte said the hardware is in the final stages of production and the company expects it to be ready to begin shipping shortly. The system will provide a significant savings for retailers and customers as it by-passes the high interchange fees charged by major credit card networks like MasterCard and Visa. Del Conte admitted that they have kept a watchful eye on Dorsey and his Square device as the company continued to pursue and fine tune its own card terminal application. Del Conte along with co-founder Ryan Johnson believe Inner Fence offers greater benefits to customers as they provide retailers with a direct account versus the traditional intermediate role between the customer and major card networks. The acquisition of AppNinjas did not include transitioning employees into the company.