(Image Source: Tecca)
BY LAURA JANVIER
ANCHOR LAUREN GORES
Want to flex some political muscle? There’s an app for that. With the tap of a finger you can donate to the presidential political campaign of your choice.
Bits Blog reports both the Obama and Romney campaigns adopted Square, a new mobile technology for funding.
“In 2012, mobile payments could be the transformational technology, as millions of political supporters are given the ability to collect money on smartphones for candidates.”
Both campaigns released screenshots of their versions of the apps.
PC Magazine says political campaigns expect it will cut down on the time needed to process donations.
“Square simplifies the task of payment in a manner similar to PayPal, but for real life, face-to-face situations. Once a payment is complete, a receipt is emailed to the buyer and on the next day, funds are sent to the merchant's bank account via direct deposit.”
App review site Rev2 says 2012 will be a testing ground for mobile apps like Square.
“Although in terms of dollar percentages, this tool is not likely to be significant in the monies raised this year, it is a potential game-changer for now and in the future as politics surges ahead with tech.”
But Smarterbits points out, if anything will push mobile fundraising to the mainstream, it’s a presidential campaign.
“Hard to imagine a better way to gain visibility than by becoming the de-facto fundraising tool for both major parties during election season. It's also hard to understate how success here could propel Square from tech startup darling to mainstream payment system in little less than a year.”
So far, only the Romney and Obama campaigns have jumped on board the Square fundraising bandwagon.
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