Payment startup Square rolls out iPad sales app

(AP) -- First, mobile payment service Square made it easier for merchants to accept credit cards anytime, anywhere, with just a smart phone and a tiny, plastic credit-card reader. Now the startup led by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey hopes to show them they can abandon cash registers.

On Monday, Square announced its free Square Register app for Apple Inc.'s iPad. The software helps businesses with the sales process and lets them reach smartphone-toting customers who have another app called Square Card Case. Square Register will work with Square's credit-card reader, which has been given to 500,000 merchants since 2009 (in return, Square charges businesses a 2.75 percent transaction fee).

Square Register is available in Apple's App Store. Square Card Case can be downloaded through one of 50 authorized merchants.

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