Feb
5th

Oneupweb : Square – Accept Credit Card Payments On Your Phone

Posted by Mike on February 5, 2010 at 9:10 am

So you’ve heard of this little thing called Twitter, right? Well, one of Twitter’s co-founders, Jack Dorsey, is already moving on with plans for the next big thing and it’s called Square. Square is a combination of hardware and software that will allow for anyone with a supported mobile phone to accept credit card payments on-the-go. Square is currently up and running on the iPhone, iPod Touch and Android phones. Other devices are likely to be supported in the future.

The hardware part of Square comes in the form of a square (hence the name) adaptor that plugs into a mobile device’s headphone jack. Once connected, all that’s needed is a swipe of a credit card through the device to begin the payment process.

Signatures are collected from the cardholder by signing on the device’s touch-screen. Receipts are sent to the purchaser via email and contain the location where the purchase was made (assuming the device is GPS-enabled), signature, merchant information and amount of the transaction.

The best thing about the Square adapter is that it will be FREE. Also, one penny of every transaction will be donated to charity. Expect for Square to launch sometime in March, and in the meantime, you can watch the video below to see Square in action:

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Oct
5th

Backin' It Up With Customer Service and Care

Posted by Teal on October 5, 2006 at 4:33 pm

Throughout my life, whether in college or in my professional career, I have always worked with clients. I enjoy speaking with people who are interested in what my company or institution can offer them and usually, by the time they get to me, they are already on board and are looking for answers and assistance.

Whether lifeguarding, waitressing, working at an RV park in Fairbanks, Alaska, a JCrew store, or now, as a SEO project manager, I have always enjoyed working with people as they choose their dinner, business suit, or keywords for a SEO project.

As a lifelong customer care junkie, I have always felt it important to represent my company to the best of my ability and create strong relationships with my clients. I also feel personally responsible for these relationships and in addition to making a good impression for my employer, I also want to create business relationships that are open, honest, and professional.

Because I have strong feelings about customer care and the importance of taking care of customers and clients, even after they have handed their money over, I felt compelled to write my post about backing up products and services with customer care.

This urge was also spurred a few weeks ago when speaking with my best friend about the trouble she was having getting her iPod replaced/properly fixed. See my friend is a dedicated runner and without her iPod to help her through the miles, she just isn’t a happy girl.

I asked Amy what happened when she called Apple and, long story short, she was put on hold for close to a half an hour, finally spoke to a representative, and was sent a replacement iPod… that was also partially broken (one of the earpieces doesn’t work). She tried calling them again and after sitting on hold for close to 30 minutes again, hung up. Amy isn’t asking for a better product than she normally had, or even a brand new one. She just wants a product that works – like the one she bought less than a year ago.

She is discouraged now and frankly, I believe that Apple lost a customer. This is what I mean by “backin’ it up with customer service”. Even with companies who sell nice, useful, enjoyable, fun, etc. products, the whole deal can be blown with poor customer care… or hours and hours of listening to The Black Eyed Peas through your right ear only.

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Jun
8th

Is the iPod Setting Apple Up for Reputation Sabotage?

Posted by Dave on June 8, 2006 at 4:26 pm

Let’s play a quick game of word association. If someone is about to sneeze, what do you hand them? If you cut your finger, what do you put on it. Did you say Kleenex or facial tissue? Band-Aid or adhesive bandage? These are just a couple of examples where a brand name has become so recognizable and widely used that it actually becomes a generic name for a product type.

Although this generification of brand names is not the norm, when it does happen, it can actually have an adverse impact on the company. Take for example the Band-Aid example above. If a company other than Band-Aid accidentally sold a batch of adhesive bandages that were not sterile, the story would most likely spread quickly that you should not buy Band-Aids because they are not sterile. Now, this has gone from bad press for a competitor, to bad press for Band-Aid.

Now, with a reported 50 million units sold to date, a seemingly insurmountable lead in the portable music device market, and the Oxford English Dictionary declaring “podcast” the word of the year, it appears that Apple’s iPod may well be on its way to becoming the next brand name diving into this potentially dangerous pool. And judging by feverous attempts to trademark everything “pod” related, Apple has already recognized both the potential benefits and drawbacks this brand recognition could create.

So, the question for Apple now becomes, “How do we maintain market share without risking reputation sabotage?”

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