So apparently Paypal wasn’t considering a recent Office episode when they unleashed their new product to compete with Square: The Triangle. O.k., maybe they didn’t call it “The Triangle”, or even “The Pyramid” (as the Office called their new table product featured in the video below), but I can picture the executive meeting now.

Act I: The Problem

David Marcus, Vice President of Mobile, walks up to one of the other company executives and says, “Hey, we’ve got a problem. Those Square guys are really making us look like fools by generating billions of dollars in transactions in a market that we were originally supposed to own. Worse of all, they’re a startup that isn’t supposed to have any chance in the payment space. How can we compete?!?! Let’s get our R&D team on this problem stat.”

Act II: The Presentation

R&D goes and spends a few months researching the entire marketplace of mobile payment solutions. They then brainstorm heavily trying to come up with the perfect way to combat the Square threat. They’ve figured it out and they bring it in to present to Marcus and the other executives. Some director of R&D starts the presentation, “When Paypal first came to be, it was originally intended as a service to transfer money between palm pilots, or between two people who are standing next to each other with handheld devices. Over a decade later we finally have the perfect devices for carrying out this company’s original vision now that such devices are in the pockets of most Americans: smartphones.”

The executive looks around the room, enjoying the anticipation he has effectively generated. “Today, I introduce to you: TRIANGLE!!! A new and incredibly innovative way to transfer money between people who are standing next to each other.” Applause erupts around the conference table and David Marcus gives the director an approving smile to let him know that the company is grateful for the research and that they now have a transformative product.

Act III: Unleashing Of The Triangle

Last week, all of Paypal’s hard work led up to the grand finale: the [public launch of Paypal Here, the official term for the company’s new Triangular-shaped payment solution. Square isn’t laughing though. I’m sure they’re taking the threat seriously as Paypal already has a massive distribution. Square’s COO, Keith Rabois, should know how major a threat Paypal is since he was one of the early executives at Paypal.

However as I saw the announcement, I couldn’t help but laugh at the oddly shaped device. I guess the executives at Paypal concluded that the only way to compete with a shape is to use another powerful shape, a triangle, which should not be confused with, a pyramid (featured below).

](http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/15/2874407/paypal-unveils-paypal-here-square-competitor-for-mobile-payment)