PayPal Here Credit Card Reader Ready to Compete With Square?

PayPal Here Card ReaderLove it or loathe it, a large number of small businesses already depend on PayPal’s merchant services. It makes sense that the eBay-owned company (that also has its hands in a ton of online merchant’s pockets) would release a mobile credit card reader, called PayPal Here for small businesses looking to step away from the cash register.

PayPal Here is similar to, and in direct competition of, services like Verifone’s PAYware, Intuit’s GoPayment, and of course, Square’s popular dongle. One of the main differences between PayPal Here and the others is immediate access to funds versus waiting for several days to access funds with the rest. That is one of the things in my mind that keeps PayPal on top of eCommerce pyramid, despite it’s issues.

Additionally, PayPal is the most widely used way to send and receive electronic payments by consumers and businesses alike. So it would make sense for businesses to jump on the ability to make it easier for PayPal users to buy goods/services via a mobile app tied to PayPal accounts – Accounts that are already used on a regular basis to all sorts of things from send/receive money with family/friends, to buying things online without going on a manhunt for your wallet.

PayPal has some work to do to get back on the good side of a great deal of customers who are not too pleased with PayPal’s recent customer-service issues. Maybe a new way for users to pay and for businesses to get paid will smooth things over?

What do you think? Can PayPal take over the mobile credit card processing game the same way it currently dominates eCommerce?