Apple's Passbook is the new battleground for the mobile payments war between Square and PayPal. As the companies duke it out for supremacy during the holiday shopping season, Square is stepping up to give PayPal a bigger challenge in the mobile gift cards/coupons arena.
On Sunday, Square chief Jack Dorsey confirmed via Twitter that his company is now fully intertwined with iOS Passbook. As a result, "Treat friends and family to local favorites with Square gift cards. Easy to redeem with Wallet, Passbook, or paper," Dorsey tweeted.
Most importantly, Square now gives users the ability to give and use gift cards through Passbook. It's an innovative move on the part of Square because it helps enable businesses that don't offer traditional gift cards (of the physical variety) to now offer them electronically. Any small business or entrepreneur that uses a Square Register to process payments can now offer and accept gift certificates and coupons.
Although mobile coupons and gift cards are generally thought of as entities that primarily benefit consumers, this announcement is also making no shortage of small businesses very happy to have a sales and marketing feature previously out of their reach.
Source: Jack Dorsey (via Twitter)
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