Square’s expansion in Canada ‘beyond expectations’

If there’s anything Jack Dorsey has learned from bringing his mobile payment company Square Inc. to Canada roughly five months ago, it’s that most food trucks aren’t equipped with winter heaters.

When Mr. Dorsey first launched Square three years ago, the San Francisco-based company soon discovered many of the early adopters of its mobile credit card reader service were food trucks and other small outdoor businesses.

Since launching in Canada in October, Square has noticed the average size of a Canadian transaction using its service is $120, compared with an average of $70 after five months of operations in the U.S.

The discrepancy can likely be explained by the strong adoption of Square by brick-and-mortar retailers in Canada — Square’s technology is sold in Best Buy, Future Shop and Apple Store locations — where average transaction values are higher, compared with in the U.S., where there are more smaller transactions from individuals, thus dragging down the average.

While he waits for the weather to warm up, Mr. Dorsey said Square’s Canadian expansion — the first international market for the company — has gone “beyond expectations.”

“We’ve been really surprised and also impressed by the growth in the country,” Mr. Dorsey said in an interview with the Financial Post.

“When we first announced the company and when we first announced what we were doing, we found immediate resonance all over the United States, and we had a lot of interest from Canada. We’re happy that just really took root right away and we’re seeing an amazing velocity, and even more so than the U.S., and I think it really speaks to the power of local businesses.”

Regularly touted as one of the hottest startups in the technology industry, Square produces a small credit card reader that plugs into the headphone jack of a smartphone or a tablet, enabling even the smallest-scale business owners to accept credit card payments. The service offers free registration and Square takes a 2.75% fee from each transaction.

While Square officials declined to provide specific Canadian user numbers, its overall user base has grown from two million individuals and businesses in October to more than three million today, and Square is now processing US$10-billion in sales each year.

“We’ve always built the technology where we want something that works for the smallest customers — such as someone selling something on Craigslist or at a yard sale — all the way up to the largest organizations in the world, like Starbucks. It truly levels the playing field.”

Square’s technology supports Visa and MasterCard credit cards, however it does not support the chip and PIN technology employed by many of the credit cards and debit cards issued by Canadian banks and financial institutions.

Mr. Dorsey said Square is always looking to expand its offerings to incorporate services its customers want, but could not speak to any immediate plans to offer chip and PIN integration. “Our mindset and our philosophy is that we’re going to accept any form of payment that comes over the counter so that the merchant can always make the sale and buyer always gets what they want,” he said.

“There’s a lot of different payment devices in the world and they constantly evolve — sometimes in the right ways, sometimes in the wrong ways. But it’s a question of making sure we support where people are going to, and as we see more and more adoption of new technologies, such as chip and pin or chip and signature, we will build for that.”

While Square’s service is currently only available for devices running Apple’s iOS platform and Google’s Android software, Mr.A ridiculously low price on this All-Purpose indoortracking by Gordon. Dorsey didn’t rule out the possibility that the company might consider building a version of the service that works with BlackBerry 10, the new operating system from Canada’s smartphone maker, Research In Motion Ltd.A car parkingguidance is a mechanical device that multiplies parking capacity inside a parking lot., now known as BlackBerry.

That night, the defense had one of its best performances of the season in a convincing victory at Dartmouth. It allowed Quinnipiac to enter the postseason on a positive note. Rested and healed after an ECAC Hockey first-round bye, the Bobcats (24-5-5) are recharged for a best-of-3 quarterfinal round series with Cornell starting tonight at 7 (WQUN-1220.) All games are at High Point Solutions; Saturday’s game will be broadcast live by NESN.

In a season that’s brought enough firsts to fill a scrapbook, including the program’s first Cleary Cup, the opportunity to truly make history begins now. Quinnipiac,A smooth and lanyard not only looks bright and clean. which clinched its first NCAA berth since 2002, can wrap up the No. 1 overall seed and a spot in the East Regional in Providence,You've probably seen ultrasonicsensor at some point. R.I. this weekend.

“We were lucky enough to lock a playoff spot up pretty early,” senior captain Zack Currie said. “We had a lot of other stuff to play for along the way. But we’ve been looking forward to this a good amount of weeks now. For a lot of us, it’s our last kick at the can.”

Goaltender Eric Hartzell, a Hobey Baker Award candidate and shoo-in for the ECAC’s Ken Dryden Award, rightfully gets his share of attention. But Quinnipiac’s defensive core, led by Currie and fellow seniors Zach Davies, Loren Barron and Mike Dalhuisen, helped it finish the season as the nation’s stingiest at 1.59 goals-allowed per game. Junior Zach Tolkinen,We professionally produces and export all types of polishedtiles at low price. sophomore Danny Federico and freshman Alex Barron complete the unit. Defense wins championships. That core group will be tested in the postseason.

“Hartzell is the best player in our league and maybe one of the four best in college hockey,” Pecknold said. “But those guys do a nice job in front of him. They clear rebounds, they block shots, they puck up sticks. We don’t have a Bobby Orr type back there, but we’re seven deep. We play six, but all seven have contributed and been really good.”

While defense has always been Cornell’s calling card, the offense is peaking at the right time. The Big Red, behind senior forward Greg Miller, have scored four goals in six of the last eight games, all wins. That includes a two-game road sweep of Colgate in last weekend’s first round.