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News

In related news, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.,
introduced legislation in Congress that would put
marijuana dispensaries on an equal footing with other
businesses under the federal tax code. The legislation
would accord dispensaries the same tax advantages
as other businesses, including deducting business
expenses and depreciating American-made irrigation
equipment.

With new mPOS device,

JUSP eyes U.S. market

ilan, Italy-based mobile POS (mPOS)
solution firm JUSP S.p.A. is gearing up
to have its Europay/MasterCard/Visa
M (EMV) -compliant device ready for the
U.S. market. On Sept. 25, 2013, JUSP launched what
it calls the first "all-in-one" chip-and-PIN compatible
mPOS in Europe. JUSP said the device measures about
5 centimeters per side and integrates a chip card reader
with a PIN pad into one unit that attaches to the audio
jack of smartphones and tablet computers.

JUSP, which manufactures the device and operates the
payment gateway over which the mPOS transactions
are processed, will sell the device through its website
and reseller agreements with third-party ISOs to
merchants in Italy, and in the 27 other European Union
countries, at a retail price per unit of 39 euros ($49).
JUSP offers a flat per transaction fee of 2.5 percent.
JUSP Chief Executive Officer Stefano Calderano said
the device offers several advantages over the mPOSs
of JUSP's competitors. The other devices are bigger
than standard smartphones, over twice as expensive
for merchants to purchase as the JUSP device, and only
function wirelessly with mobile devices, according to
Calderano. With competitors' systems, salespeople
must operate the mobile device in one hand and the
reader in the other, which makes it "a completely
different user experience than the mobile POS that's
been in the U.S.," he said.
Following the Square template

JUSP's solution and business model is similar to that
of mobile payment firm Square Inc. Calderano believes
that for JUSP to be successful in the United States, it
had to adopt Square's approach. "Our competitive
advantage is that, as Square does in the U.S., we control
the whole value chain," Calderano said.

However, the two companies' offerings differ
significantly. Square's dongle, which also attaches to the
audio jack of mobile devices, is simple in comparison
to JUSP's solution. The mag-stripe reading dongle has
no PIN pad and is cheaper to manufacture than JUSP's
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