Groupon may be ready to take on the likes of Intuit and Square with its next offering – a mobile payments platform that could shake up this growing industry and its leading players today.
Speaking in confidence to Reuters, two unnamed sources confirm that the daily deals giant is now actively testing in the field a new mobile payments platform with a select few Groupon merchants.
Groupon’s nascent payment service comes with an Apple iPod Touch, and a case that wraps around the back of the device, which allows merchants to swipe credit cards, the people said. They did not want to be identified because the service has not been officially announced, and is in an early testing phase with some Groupon merchants.
If the offering successfully makes it out of testing with the company’s blessing for national launch, the service will likely be competitively priced and perhaps significantly undercut the transaction fees charged by Intuit and Square.
Would you be inclined to use a Groupon-branded mobile payments service?