In addition, PayPal Mobile App will soon work with VeriFone's PAYware Mobile for iPhone (which is the product Square competes with, as it also enables merchants to accept payments via a software-hardware combo for the Apple smartphone).
Keep in mind, this includes both its payments gateway, as well as VeriFone's PAYware Mobile offering, which allows merchants to accept payments via a software-hardware combo from smartphones.
Microsoft kept most of the money with the de facto monopoly enjoyed by its Windows + Office combo, while it let hardware manufacturers race to the bottom (netbooks come to mind).
Unlike some other apps I've tested in recent days, including a hardware and app combo called KoalaSafe and a kid-safe browser from Mobicip, Circle comes with age-specific filters you can enable without having to monkey around much with its settings.
Instead of waiting around who-knows-how-long to declare a winner, hardware manufacturers will just start making combo drives knowing full well that many consumers will opt to future-proof their systems.
This combo setup actually makes the games more important than the hardware: Console makers generally take a loss on the hardware, and make it up on the game licensing.
But if you've got a couple of hours and an electric drill, "Home Made Simple" carpenter David Leon says you can make this industrial-chic desk and shelf combo for just the cost of materials found at your local hardware store.
And Apple is rapidly trying to ramp up its own services, regularly pointing to the success of things like Apple Music, in order to show Wall Street that it isn't just a hardware company and can level the playing ground against companies looking to be a combo of hardware and software like Microsoft or google.
Here at TechCrunch Disrupt SF's hardware alley it's showing off the Prep Pad: a Bluetooth kitchen scales plus app combo that's due to land this November, costing $150.
This week, we've got some new Android-powered hardware to discuss, including the Nvidia Shield portable gaming console and Wacom's new Cintiq Companion Hybrid combo Android tablet/PC or Mac drawing tablet.
