Amazon may take on Square and PayPal Here with mobile credit card reader

Web giant Amazon is about to release a mobile-based credit card reader to rival the likes of Square, according to reports on Sunday.

9to5Mac has obtained a copy of a recent Staples (an American office supplies store) inventory, that claims Amazon is planning to launch a device known as the 'Amazon Card Reader' next month.

The internal document says the reader will cost $9.99 (around £5.90, AU$10.60), but adds Staples staff are to hold off on making stock available until August 12.

For those keeping score at home, this isn't the first time such a rumour has manifested itself. Earlier this year the Wall Street Journal reported Amazon was working on a point-of-sale system.

Hip to be square

Currently Square, founded and operated by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, dominates the mobile card reader market in the United States, although the PayPal Here rival is also on the scene.

Square provides a small, square (hence the name) reader to vendors, who can plug them into a smartphone's 3.5mm headphone jack in order to take credit card payments via an accompanying app.

Square takes a small cut of the transaction, but offers a far more cost effective solution for small businesses who don't wish to invest in credit card machines or pay inflated fees associated with them.

However, all is far from rosy in the Square garden after it announced losses of $100m earlier this year. Could Amazon capitalise on its perceived weakness?

Amazon is yet to comment on the reports, but with August 12 just around the corner, it won't be long until we find out for sure.

Nvidia's Shield tablet confirmed and available to pre-order

Nvidia has taken the wraps off a new Shield tablet that will work with a Shield wireless controller for on-the-go gaming courtesy of the company's Nvidia Tegra K1 mobile chip.

Built specifically for gamers, the tablet features an 8-inch, 1080p HD screen, front-facing speakers and the same PC streaming feature we saw in the original Shield. It's design matches the leaked images we saw last week.

The tablet will also come with an optional cover that can double as a kickstand and storage choices are the standard 16GB or 32GB variants.

Nvidia has built in LTE-functionality so that gaming doesn't need to be limited to a Wi-Fi connection. And the company states there will be regular, over-the-air upgrades pushed out to keep the Shield tablet on its gaming toes.

It also boasts a new feature called Nvidia ShadowPlay that lets you capture gaming moments and share them using the video platform Twitch. Something that has become increasingly popular and is offered by consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One.

Catering to those with more artistic tendencies, the Shield tablet also makes use of the Nvidia DirectStylus 2 stylus that enables, so Nvidia says, the first GPU-accelerated 3D painting experience.

“If you’re a gamer and you use a tablet, the Nvidia Shield tablet was created specifically for you,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia's co-founder and chief executive officer.

“It delivers exceptional tablet performance and unique gaming capabilities to keep even the most avid gamers deeply immersed, anywhere they play.”

The Shield tablet is available to pre-order now in the UK and comes in with a price tag starting at £239.99 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and going up to £299.99 for the 32GB LTE version.

Unfortunately, that doesn't include the wireless Shield controller, which you'll have to pick up separately for £49.99. The optional cover will set you back £24.99.

Stay tuned to currentbit for latest review of nvidia's tablet.