Mophie jumping into mobile transaction arena with “me too” iPhone credit card scanner.

Think Jack Dorsey’s “Square” was as good as it got? Mophie, a popular iPhone hardware manufacturer would like you to think otherwise. While I and apparently several other bloggers in the tech sphere don’t see this exactly one upping or even in the same league as Square, there’s no doubt the mobile transaction market is quickly heating up.

If we were going based on software alone, it would be hard to say much of anything about Mophie currently as their description of the “private label” software simply states:

Marking its first combination hardware and private label iPhone application device, mophie is launching its innovative new credit card reader, empowering users to complete financial transactions on the go.

So, are they (Mophie) making it or is someone else? Beats me. But we’ll find out such things in less than a week anyway so there’s no sense in losing sleep over it.

Software aside, the actual hardware pictured above is actually pretty nifty if it materializes into anything remotely close to the picture. Then again, being mobile means just that — mobile and compact. Dorsey’s Square dongle has Mophie’s rendering beat hands down for size. And if Mophie isn’t doing the whole software/hardware combo in house as Square is doing, consider this a novelty service.

That’s the word for now. Have anything to add?

TechCrunch