Somewhere, Darla is Very Happy

💳➡️📱 Apple is planning a new service that will let small businesses accept payments directly on their iPhones without any extra hardware, Bloomberg reports. Think: Square but without the terminal – just tap the iPhone and off-you-go.

• Apple has reportedly been working on the new feature since around 2020, when it paid ~$100 million for Canadian startup Mobeewave.
• Mobeewave developed technology for smartphones to accept payments with the tap of a credit card. The startup was backed by Samsung before being acquired by Apple, and had previously implemented payment acceptance with a tap on Samsung devices in 2019.
• Important to note: It’s still not known when – or even if – the feature will be rolling out, though Bloomberg’s sources say it could become available via software update in the next few months.

+Zoom out: Square, helmed by CEO Jack Dorsey, is currently the dominant player in the point-of-sale systems industry with a ~35% market share. But its existing solution requires an accessory connected to the iPhone that handles the contactless connection, and that could be a problem if the feature already comes pre-installed on the device. The company’s shares closed down 3% on the news.

+Also: Apple is reportedly working on a service for Apple Pay that would let people buy things and pay them off later in installments.