State of the Art - A Simple Swipe on the iPhone, and You’re Paid - NYTimes.com

An overview of the latest company from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey

To become a credit card merchant, you have to buy the card-reading equipment, which costs several hundred dollars. You generally pay a setup fee, and you commit to a one- or two-year contract with the processing company. You pay $15 to $25 a month, and minimum transaction fees of $25 a month, even if you had no sales at all.

The Square Up system, on the other hand, eliminates that stuff. All of it. It makes the barrier to entry into the credit card world so low, there’s virtually nothing to stop you, the little guy, from taking the leap.

First, the equipment: you need an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or an Android phone. Why buy a fancy authorizing machine, when you already have a computer in your pocket?

State of the Art - A Simple Swipe on the iPhone, and You’re Paid - NYTimes.com