The Jusp mPOS solution has launched in Europe, within the Q3 time schedule announced by the Italian startup when it secured $6m in Series A funding, but quite a long way behind local competitiors.
It is a Chip & PIN solution – beating the likes of SumUp to offer the EU-standard transaction method – and connects to an app on your handset via the headphone jack. Jusps transaction fees are (marginally) lower than industry-standard, at 2.5 per cent, and the reader, which is quite good looking, is €39 (£33), putting it at the lower end of the scale.
The company says it will target the US market in 2015, which doesn’t sound quick enough given the foothold already gained by Square. But this means they are prepared for when America switches to Chip & PIN card payments. 
Jusp has also opened a business development office in Singapore, headed by former Mastercard exec Michele Tucci, signalling its intention to target the APAC region too. Both Square and PayPal are already going head-to-head with operator NTT Docomo in Japan, while Swiff, a product created by Singapores SCCP Group, is making headway in this part of the world with its whitelabel mPOS solution.
