The market for mobile point-of-sale readers is usually thought to be small companies, but Swedish firm iZettle wants to segment it further.

The firm’s new Lite carder reader is free, while its other, the Pro, costs £49 (excluding VAT). Both are attached to smartphones and tablets to process payments. But iZettle envisages different sets of users for the two products based on likely business size.

“We see the Lite as being the perfect solution for a newly opened barbershop or tattoo parlour, while the Pro reader is better if you’re for instance running a busy coffee shop,” explained iZettle in response to a query from Mobile World Live.

In terms of functionality, the Pro has a built-in screen, connects wirelessly and handles transactions slightly faster. The Lite, on the other hand, connects only with a cord and has no display, the firm said.

So a small business will have to decide if they prefer the new Lite or old Pro.

In addition to device cost, businesses must pay iZettle a monthly fee for processing transactions. The same charging model applies for Pro and Lite users.

iZettle charges less to companies the more transactions it handles for them. Hence a firm with £5,000 in monthly sales would pay iZettle a fee of 1.92 per cent on each transaction.

The fee level goes down to 1.5 per cent (£12,850 in monthly sales and above for bigger firms), and as high as 2.75 per cent (£2,000 in monthly sales and below for the smaller startups).