Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am surprised Apple didn't make this a closed system and compete with Square for small businesses.
It competes with anyone selling point of sale hardware. I think Square falls into that camp, no? I wouldn't want to be in that space right now. I don't see how this doesn't usurp a big chunk of their market since it isn't even a decision between buy this or buy that, but buy that or just use the thing already in my pocket.
No.
It allows sole proprietors, freelancers and the like to not have to get a Square reader to take credit card transactions. That's super convenient, especially for getting a deposit from a client, for example.
It also requires a newish iPhone (iPhone XS or later device), so there will still be plenty of iPhones out there that won't support this.