Intuit is looking to expand its GoPayment mobile point-of-sale product north of the border. The company announced it plans to offer GoPayment to merchants in Canada. Additionally, Intuit will be shipping a redesigned version of the GoPayment Card reader making it more accurate and easier to use.

"We're taking two big steps forward today: announcing GoPayment in Canada, and releasing a new and improved card reader," said Chris Hylen, VP and GM of Intuit's Payment Solutions division. "This is part of our strategy to offer GoPayment internationally and to innovate in ways that make it easier for our customers, in all markets, to never miss a sale."

According to Intuit, GoPayment for Canada will work with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices at first. As with the U.S., there are no start-up or equipment costs, no long-term contracts and no monthly fees, the company said. Instead, merchants will pay 2.7 percent of each transaction.

GoPayment is the first U.S. mobile POS product to be offered outside the U.S. Competing products like Square are only available for merchants in the states. A payment processor called Payfirma Corp. already provides a similar product in Canada.

Redesigned card reader

The new GoPayment card reader released by Intuit will ship to both the U.S. and Canada, Intuit said. It attaches to the audio jack of iOS and Android devices. While not naming Square directly, Intuit said the new reader addresses problems merchants had with competitors' card readers.

The new reader fits to the mobile device using a silicon sleeve for stability and to prevent the reader from spinning during a swipe and possibly causing a misread. Intuit said it also redsigned the swipe channel itself to improve read accuracy.

GoPayment for Canada and the redesigned GoPayment card reader will hit the market early this year, the company said.