Say you are a small retail chain that accepts credit card payments at the cash register, and you want to make things more efficient (Apple-store style) by also accepting payments via portable devices that your employees carry around.

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Primary problems with (a) are cost and possibly an outdated interface.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.

They provide an API for integrating credit card readers into Point of Sale Systems (POS) like e.g a grocery store checkout system or a mobile app to take payments when the card is present.

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.

All signs point to no. Square wants to be a prominent brand in the eyes of SMBs and consumers (e.g. Square Register, Square Wallet.) They don't seem interested in offering APIs or other white-label tools that help app developers feature their own brands and experiences. Seems like Cardflight clients can integrate payments into their own app experience, rather than having to push CardFlight's, Square's or anyone else's brand.

Why not just use Square in this scenario?

[Disclosure: I work for CardFlight]

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.