If you live in New York City, you’ve undoubtedly been subjected to the horrible in-car infotainment system that displays news, weather, scores, and answers to questions you never had. Square Inc., the San Francisco-based company created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has proposed installing tablets complete with the company’s credit-card swipe system into the back of 50 cabs.
Passengers would be able to play games and use pre-installed apps on the iPads as well as check news and all the other info the old systems delivered. They would also be able to pay for their rides using the Square credit card dongle.
Square Inc. was founded in 2010 as a way for people to accept credit card payments on their mobile phones. Once independent merchants sign up for an account with Square Inc, they attach a free dongle to their iOS or Android device which allows buyers to swipe their credit cards.
The new system would reportedly result in lower credit card transaction fees for taxi drivers. Square Inc. is expected to make its formal proposal to the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission sometime next week.
[via NY1]
Square Wants to Bring iPads to NYC Taxis
By Damien Scott | Feb 21, 2012 | 4:51 pm | Permalink
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GreenCabMadison February 21st, 2012 at 05:47 PM
Green Cab has had iPads installed in our cabs since day 1 and have been using square as a form of payment for over a year. check us out at www.greencabofmadison.com
James Stein February 27th, 2012 at 05:23 PM
I wonder what cab drivers will think about Square's proposal. They've been opposed to accepting credit cards everywhere. A recent story tells us that a Dallas cabby tried to dissuade riders from paying with cards by displaying a sign warning that doing so could subject the cardholder's personal information to being "to being intercepted by unauthorized personnel." Cabbies can be very inventive, you have to give them that. For more: http://blog.unibulmerchantservices.com/cab-drivers-vs-credit-cards-data-security-concern-edition.