You have a couple of options: a. Invest in proprietary portable payment devices (what Apple does) b. Sign up for a service like Square and invest in iPods or iPhones
Primary problems with (a) are cost and possibly an outdated interface. Problem with (b) is the payments are not tied into your existing infrastructure, and you have to live with Square's 2.75% fee, which may be higher than what you've already negotiated with your card providers.
With CardFlight, you get a card reader like Square's, but you can use their SDKs to collect and send payments into your existing card infrastructure. Square is ideal for independent coffee shops and the like, but if you're a small business with a few locations, something like this is probably the better solution.
Besides user convenience compared to entering the credit card information manually the transaction fees for card-present transactions are much lower due to reduced transaction-risk.
Does Square have any future intent to allow this?
We're still experimenting with different pricing models to figure out what makes the most sense for our clients. We typically pass the hardware expense through at cost and charge an all-inclusive monthly or annual fee per deployed device for the SDK, payment gateway, unlimited transactions, unlimited support, etc.
One upside of using CardFlight is that clients can shop around and pick whichever processor they want for the lowest rates, easiest integration, best service, or whatever reason they wish, while using the CardFlight SDK for an easy technical integration. Our clients/developers can even work with multiple processors in parallel, or switch processors down the track without having to rebuild their back end.