Does Square Have A Doppelganger In The UK? Meet mPowa

By Ingrid Lunden | January 24, 2012 | PaidContent.org

Square, the high-profile mobile payments company started by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, has yet to launch outside the U.S. But in the meantime, another, similar-looking competitor has sprung up in the UK: mPowa.

The new service, due to launch in mid-February, this week opened its doors for pre-registration for “small businesses, traveling salespeople and other hard-working Brits”, to received free, square-shaped dongles that plug into a mobile device to let merchants scan people’s credit and debit cards.

Like Square, mPowa will make its money on a fee charged per transaction. Unlike Square, the fee will be lower: 0.25 percent per charge.

mPowa says when it goes live it will work on iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry devices. A spokesperson for the company tells paidContent that the apps to make the dongle work on these platforms are still pending approval.

The spokesperson declined to say whether any companies have signed up to use the service yet. The start-up’s parent company, Powa, already has a relationship with Barclay’s, which has an exclusive deal to sell Powa’s web-based e-commerce platform to businesses in the UK. Some thought that might mean Barclay’s would also distribute the dongles on behalf of mPowa, too—although this has not been confirmed by either party.(more)