SlidePay (YC W12) Tries To Be The “Android” of Payments

SlidePay (YC W12) Tries To Be The “Android” of Payments(techcrunch.com)

56 points by charliepinto 12 years ago | 20 comments

vailripper 12 years ago |

Best of luck - this is exactly what we're looking for. Suggestion: It would be fantastic if we could port existing merchant accounts or (better yet) existing gateways. For example, we're currently using Braintree for web transactions, but would love to use your service for mobile. It would be great if we could continue using our vaulted cards on braintree, but use your service for frontend.

charliepinto 12 years ago | |

let's chat. my email is charlie[at]slidepay[dot]com.

gt565k 12 years ago |

How is this different from Stripe?

https://stripe.com/us/help/pricing

It's interesting that the fees are the same for a transaction when a card isn't present 2.9% + 30 cents, but 2.5% + 10 cents per transaction when a card is present.

I wonder what Stripe's response to this will be.

wmf 12 years ago | |

With Stripe you type in the card number. With SlidePay you swipe the card.

gt565k 12 years ago | | |

does SlidePay give you a slider? You can slide cards with Stripe, you just need a card slider that you can use on the phone and implement the stripe API with it.

Edit: OK, it appears they give you a slider.

primigenus 12 years ago |

I don't get the analogy. SlidePay is the "Android" of payments versus Square as the "Apple" of payments, but the author then goes on to say SlidePay is like a white label version of Square. How is Android a white label version of iOS? How does the analogy help frame this service? Why not just explain what it is and how it's different directly?

gkoberger 12 years ago | |

With the iPhone, everything (device, software, services) are from Apple.

With Android, Google provides parts that different device manufacturers can use to augment their device. Manufacturers can use their own hardware and add whatever software they want to Android.

Not a great analogy, though -- especially since my initial impression was that it only worked on Android while Square was for iOS.

A better analogy would probably be "Stripe's API + Square's Hardware".

pbreit 12 years ago | |

The analogy is fine. If you're a handset manufacturer (samsung, htc, et al) you can white label android (which works kinda like iOS). Just as you can't use iOS, you can't use square in your own app.

scorpion032 12 years ago | |

I'd guess that they wanted to say "Stripe for Android"; but didnt want to mention Stripe, so ended up suggesting that.

benologist 12 years ago | |

The analogy makes sense if you look at AOL's news sites as cheap content farms.

TomJoad 12 years ago |

This is great, I've been searching all over for a white-label Square. Others, like PayAnywhere, have fallen short.

charliepinto 12 years ago | |

let's chat about this. my email is charlie[at]slidepay[dot]com

dlinder 12 years ago |

For others researching options for card-present transactions with an API, there's also http://getcardflight.com

They feature a Stripe integration of some sort.

jessepollak 12 years ago |

I'm not sure about the technology or business, but I will say that I absolutely love the interactive sliding graphics on their landing page.

martythemaniak 12 years ago |

I was just researching rolling my own payment system for an app using the Stripe API and a card reader. Looking forward to trying this out.

boatbasin 12 years ago | |

If you're looking to integrate a card reader and a Stripe account, you might want to check out CardFlight: https://getcardflight.com/connect-with-stripe

hkmurakami 12 years ago |

well they sure chose one hell of a great name for this pivot to a service catering to physical cc readers. For that alone I am damn impressed right now. Great branding.

mrjaeger 12 years ago |

One of the best teams out there, good luck guys!

dw5ight 12 years ago |

sounds like a hell of pivot. best of luck guys!

chourobin 12 years ago |

Best of luck guys!