Mobile payments provider, Square, is introducing a new pricing plan targeted at small businesses (view press release).  Square is looking to gain an advantage over its rivals  by offering smaller merchants a flat monthly usage subscription for its mobile payment products instead of making them pay for every transaction, in an effort to streamline its service and boost uptake. Square is giving shops and restaurants making less than USD250,000 annually the option to pay USD275 per month, instead of paying 2.75% commission on every m-payment they take using Square's plug-in card readers and smartphone apps. As a result, businesses taking more than USD10, 000 m-payments per month would pay less to use Square, and this is likely to raise stakes in the m-payments space as a rising number of services compete for merchant loyalty.

“For 62 years, merchants have suffered complicated, expensive processing fees. Square is the first company to rethink electronic payment pricing with the merchant in mind. We are giving merchants affordable, predictable pricing,” said Square CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey. “With one monthly price, merchants know that the sales they’ve processed in a day is the same amount deposited in the bank.”