New Zealand it's time to "Square-up"

Square has the potential to open up a new payment system in the market. In store self-payment systems are already proving effective for retailers like supermarkets, and Burger FuelMarketing Manager of Burger Fuel New Zealand Alexis Lam says their Self Payment Kiosks save them time and money daily.

"It's good on busy nights and for our regular customers"

So you can see that there is a market already for self payment systems in New Zealand.The Square's more affordable system will bring this same flexibility to smaller businesses that may not have been able to afford kiosks. It will mean no more chunky EFTPOS machines to deal with, and it will save them $100-$200 a month on their ongoing maintenance fee. The Square and iPhone or iPad is only a one off fee, which will truly save the business owner a lot of money.The Square device will also bring huge benefit to sites like Trade Me, Sella, and other auction sites. The best example is the video above which shows Jason buying a couch right on the spot at someone's house. Now bring this back to the auction site -  instead of carrying money to buy my second hand iPad, I can just swipe my card on the seller's Square device and hey presto! iPad for me. Simple huh?The opportunity I see for auction sites is to partner with Square and offer their regular sellers the device, either for a fee, or to simply promote sales. The race is on for these sites to implement something like this - whichever does it first will truly set the path for the rest to follow.And what about in restaurants? With an Square and an iPad or iTouch imbedded into each table, the patrons could order and pay by themselves. It'd be fast  and with fewer staff required, much, much cheaper.There's also that "the future is here" experience that some stores need to deliver to their customers. They're ones who are targeting well-heeled, tech-savvy New Zealanders like Giapo Gelato, Deus Ex Machina and Burger Fuel.Another good example of how Square can be implemented is on Taxis. We are starting to see a lot of Taxis giving customers the option to pay by credit card, debit card and EFTPOS if you are in New Zealand and again you have to deal with 1) a chunky payment device and 2) monthly maintenance fee. Now wouldn't life be much easier if the Taxi has a mounted iPod, iPhone or iPad with the square deviceThe Reason why i have picked these industries is because Square charges 4% on a companies overall transactions, so if you think about this will suit business that don't make a lot on a day to day basis, so 4% won't be a pocket breaker. if this was used in a business that makes a lot of money then 4% is a big ask. The other great thing is the Square device runs on the EDGE Network, 3G and Wi-fi as well, with EDGE and 3G its good for on the "Go" transactions and with the Square device working on Wi-Fi, it's good in-shops usage.There's no New Zealand law that states retail or restaurants require EFTPOS Machines to operate, so the sky's the limitOne thing's for certain, the Square will definitely bring fresh competition to companies like Kiwi EFTPOS and EFTPOS New Zealand.So what are your thoughts on this? Do you think the Square device should be implemented in New Zealand?