T-Mobile offers free Square card readers with a phone contract

Square is all about making businesses more mobile, and that’s something you can figure out simply by looking at the companies lone hardware product — the Square Card Reader. The tiny device pairs with Square’s app to process credit card transactions on a smartphone. Earlier this year, Square got a major boost when Apple decided to carry its hardware in retail stores. Now, they’re getting a little help from the folks at T-Mobile.

T-Mo is encouraging business users to upgrade their phones to a brand new, super-speedy 4G model like the Samsung Galaxy S2 or HTC Amaze. To sweeten the deal — or at least take some of the sting off of the two-year, $70 per month contract — they’re offering up a free Square reader.

A new phone and no-cost payment processing hardware does sound like a pretty good deal, but it’s worth knowing that you don’t have to stick with T-Mobile just to get in on the action. See, Square gives the reader away for free anyway right on their website. All you have to do is sign up for their payment processing service, provide your shipping address, and you’re good to go. You can then dust off your copy of A Christmas Story and make believe you’re Ralphie waiting for the mailman to deliver your super-secret decoder ring.

But even though the reader deal from T-Mobile isn’t necessarily an amazing deal for business users, it’s an undeniably good thing for Square. It’s the first time they’ve been promoted by a carrier, and should help Square add new customers and bump up their $11 million-per-day payment processing volume.