PayPal's bid to take on mobile card reading rival Square has stepped up a gear with the launch of the company's first native app for the iPad, pitched at small retailers that want to use the tablet as a point-of-sale device.
The new app offers the ability to scan barcodes and wirelessly connect to a cash drawer and printer. Sales activity is tracked in a 'daily summary' report.
The latest release comes a year after PayPal woke up to the threat posed by upstarts such as Square with the launch of the PayPal Here dongle in the US. While Square's footprint is limited to the US and Canada, PayPal has used its international network to make inroads in overseas markets.
Just last week the company expanded its alliance with Softbank in Japan to make the card reader available in more than 2700 SoftBank retail locations and business sales networks across the country.
In the UK, meanwhile, PayPal claims to have registered interest from almost 11,000 small business for its forthcoming Chip and PIN reader, which was showcased at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month.
Keeping with the mobile theme, Paypal earlier this week shipped a new mobile software developer kit for the iPhone. Taking this a step further, the company on Wednesday announced the acqusition of Duff Research, a California-based provider of full service mobile app development for leading brands, such as Adidas and Tivo.