Square to launch an Apple Pay-ready NFC and card chip reader this fall

According to techcrunch.com, Square says it will ship its standard magnetic card stripe reader with the new NFC/EMV card chip reader so merchants can accept all forms of payment. Square will earn its standard 2.75 percent fee on all of these transactions, allowing it to earn money by pushing the adoption of Apple Pay.

Merchants can now register to receive the new Square “Contactless + Chip Reader,” which will ship in the fall of 2015. Square will be sending out 250,000 of the readers for free. They’ll cost USD 49 after that, but in some cases merchants can get a refund for the first USD 49 in fees they trigger with the reader. It can either be plugged into the Square Stand USB hub, or merchants can charge the reader’s battery and then connect wirelessly.

The partnership announcement came during Apple’s WWDC conference keynote. Apple also announced new retail partners, support for loyalty cards with its new Wallet app (formerly Passbook), and an expansion to the UK for Apple Pay.

To pay, customers will either tap their phone to the new Square reader, dip the chip on their credit card, or ask to swipe with the old Magstripe Reader dongle. All of these payment types trigger Square’s standard 2.75 percent fee to merchants.