by If you shop at Whole Foods Market, you might want to get used to seeing products by your favorite Cupertino computer company at the stands. No, Apple isn’t selling devices at the popular grocery chain; it’s partnering with Square to start offering its iPad-based credit and debit card processing payment options at some of the company’s secondary checkout lines.
As TIME reports (via MacRumors), that means you probably won’t see it at the main checkout lines anytime soon, but you will see it booths for “ready-to-consume” products like Whole Food’s pizza, sandwiches, and even beer and wine.
In the words of the TIME report, “Customers will be able to pay with credit and debit cards, cash and, in some locations, by using the Square Wallet smartphone app. The idea is to expedite things both for people making a quick purchase from one of these venues and for those who are at the checkouts with a cartful of groceries.”
The report isn’t clear as to how the payments will be processed aside from the use of the Square Wallet app, although it’s possible Whole Foods Market will use the Square Stand cash register. The move actually makes Whole Foods the second major American retailer to take up Square’s brand of mobile payments. Back in 2012, for instance, Starbucks started using Square’s Smart Wallet app as an alternative to straightforward credit card processing, and so far it seems to have worked out for them. And with two high names leading the way, the best question now is probably, “Who’s next?”
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