PayPal Here credit card app for Windows and Windows Phone due in early 2015

PayPal Here (site), a credit-card scanner and app service akin to Square, is set to debut on Windows and Windows Phone sometime in early 2015.

The information comes via an email sent to a reviewer asking about the app, who is informed that a pilot program is set to begin in "January-February 2015". The PayPal Here app is releasing to Windows 8.1 first and then Windows Phone 8.1 shortly thereafter.

PayPal Here for Windows Phone

PayPal Here was announced way back in spring 2012 as a way for the financial-transaction company to compete against Square, who was then dominating mobile point-of-sales through tablets and phones. The service includes a card-reading dongle that is placed in the 3.5mm headphone jack that works with software to process the transaction and monitor sales.

Square has no plans to support Windows or Windows Phone, at least to our knowledge. With PayPal Here finally arriving, Windows and Windows Phone stands a much better chance of mass-adoption by independent companies, who so far have had to eschew the OS due to lack of service parity. PayPal Here is available on iOS and Android.

Currently, PayPal has an app for Windows Phone but only for consumers to manage their accounts.

Windows Central will continue to follow the development of the app, which is likely not due until the early spring following testing.

Thanks to our source who wishes to remain anonymous

Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.