Square reached a milestone back in November with it’s billionth payment. That means that regardless of what people are saying, Square is getting quite popular.

The technology, that allows just about anyone to take a credit card payment via a swiping device that plugs into their smart phone, has turned street vendors, performers and even grandparents with a side crafting business, into bonafide, credit card accepting, entrepreneurs.

Square has really been ahead of the curve when it comes to mobile and electronic payments.

TechRepublic’s Jack Wallen does a good job of conceptualizing the Square payment in this article. 

But now as Square has taken it’s billionth payment they’re looking into ways to become more relevant in the world of the mobile consumer. So it’s only natural that they are adding both Google Wallet and Apple Pay to the mix.

Starting sometime this year Square will accept credit cards, Google Wallet and Apple Pay, the latter two requiring an NFC connection of sorts via the smartphone using a Square app, presumably, as a payment conduit.

While more and more merchants have the ability to accept Google Wallet and Apple Pay as payment options, many merchants aren’t enabling the technology. Even in big cities like Manhattan you can go for blocks and blocks without finding a merchant that will take either.

Now, as Wallen points out, crafters, authors and vendors at conferences will be more technologically savvy when it comes to payments than the neighborhood Target or Home Depot.

Read more here.