Square Debuts its Latest Hardware, a $299 Card Swiper for iPad Registers

http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/14/square-debuts-its-latest-hardware-stand-a-299-card-swiper-for-ipad-registers/

by wlue • 13 years ago

42 45 13 years ago

This is great. Their hardware has always been one of the weak points in the experience - people hate swiping on the wobbly headphone-jack doohickeys. Having something much more solid would help.

fudged71• 13 years ago

Are there any wires needed to hook into receipt printers, cash boxes, etc?

dangrossman5• 13 years ago

The receipt printer is a network printer; it needs an ethernet cable. The iPad connects to the printer over wifi. The receipt printer is connected to the cash drawer by, essentially, a telephone cable. The printer tells the drawer to open through that line; the iPad does not directly communicate with the cash drawer.

Unfortunately I paid $499 for this stuff from Square just last month, and I'm not going to spend $299 more to upgrade to a fancier stand.

toomuchtodo• 13 years ago

Why not see if they'll swap the gear, refund you, etc?

puls• 13 years ago

The Square Stand actually includes a USB hub to plug the printer, cash drawer, and barcode scanner in via USB. It's much simpler than setting up everything to talk on the network.

austenallred• 13 years ago

Honestly I'm a little surprised it took this long. Seems like a no-brainer for the company.

meerita3• 13 years ago

Here in Barcelona we're using wireless for paying. Each card has a chip you just get your card close to the read and bam, you payed the bill. It's nice and confortable.

mattermill• 13 years ago

That sounds sketchy as hell.

dangrossman5• 13 years ago

Why? If you had those cards, or a smartphone with NFC and Google Wallet installed, you could do the same thing in the US. Just look for the MasterCard PayPass logo on the top of the terminal you are swiping your card in today.

I've seen it at CVS, RiteAid, McDonalds, Wawa, ShopRite, Home Depot...

astrodust2• 13 years ago

Here it's known as "Paywave" (http://www.visa.ca/en/personal/visa-paywave/index.jsp)

On a credit card you have the safety of being able to appeal transactions. I wouldn't want this on a debit card.

bhitov• 13 years ago

At least on the cards I have looked into in the US, there is a purchase price limit and the card info is transmitted with ECC.

meerita3• 13 years ago

I took a picture of the system we use. http://www.flickr.com/photos/minid/8741099364/in/photostream

brandon272• 13 years ago

I have been using the "tap to pay" feature on my credit card here in Canada increasingly. So convenient versus inserting the card, typing the PIN, etc.

deweller• 13 years ago

Is there any chance that Square (or any of its competitors) will open up their service to custom app developers?

I want to build a custom application that uses their hardware and payment processing back end. But I can't.

avelis• 13 years ago

I see no evidence that Square would make one although they could. Until they achieve a huge market percentage they are still in growth mode. That requires brand trust first.

joezydeco2• 13 years ago

So what happens with signatures? I recently visited a cafe where they were using an iPad as a checkout, and the cashier had to constantly swivel the thing around to let customers sign for their purchase.

I know it's not that big an inconvenience, but it just seemed like an awkward conclusion to a transaction that's supposed to be simplified by these devices.

madsushi• 13 years ago

I believe if you're a verified business account and the total is under $20 or so, no signature is needed. If it's over a certain amount, then you have to get a signature, which means you're going to be swiveling or handing someone an iPad regularly.

jonknee• 13 years ago

If you have a printer attached they just sign the old fashioned way.

dangrossman5• 13 years ago

Square asks for the signature on the iPad whether you buy a printer or not as far as I can tell.

MrDOS2• 13 years ago

In Canada, virtually all credit card transactions now take place via chip insertion, not swiping, and chip transactions require PIN entry, not signing. Unless they get an external numpad to handle such things, this is going to be a security nightmare.

jguimont• 13 years ago

In Canada, most in store transaction are using Interac and not credit cards. I wonder when Square will accept both. I guess europeen countries have something similar to Interac as well (french's blue card?).

mrweasel2• 13 years ago

It's going to useless in Europe as well. I doubt that the credit card companies will approve a terminal of any kind that relies on the magnet strip, rather than the chip.

I actually had a meeting with a guy from a credit card clearing company yesterday. His comment was that the credit card companies have pretty much given up on introducing chip and PIN to the US. They'll just let the US keep the magnet strip and signature until they can replace the credit card with things like VISA Wallet, NFC or whatever the solution will be.

masonhensley• 13 years ago

My coffee shop has a wooden case they made that they flip over for the user to sign and add a tip amount while the coffee is being prepared.

This is just much less ghetto and has a more substantial card reader built into it.

joezydeco2• 13 years ago

That's a pretty cool idea.

I'm still wary about the whole concept of letting the customer access the POS interface. What's to keep the customer from subtracting a few items off the tab while the barista is away and working?

Flipping the case over and letting the UI switch into a "signature capture only" mode might be a nice way to solve that.

dangrossman5• 13 years ago

Buying an iPad stylus makes it a little less awkward than asking the customer to sign with their finger.

hkmurakami• 13 years ago

Also, some customers probably can't stand touching the surface of an iPad that's been touched by a hundred people before them.

bullfightonmars• 13 years ago

Check out the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5...!

They show the whole stand spins around on a center axis for the signature.

Groxx• 13 years ago

they're probably also trying to get more places to use Square, period. in that case, you also have the hands-free pay-with-your-name/face thing that presumably works here too, and means they basically just have to tap your image and it's done.

stbtrax• 13 years ago

I always found the ritual of the cashier handing you two receipts, and a pen, then you struggling to find counter space to sign it with the non-functional pen, then trying to had back the pen and the receipt without giving them your copy, all with one hand since you're holding a drink in your other hand, to be even more awkward.

nathanbarry• 13 years ago

Signing a receipt while holding a baby is really tricky. Square is easy to sign just because the ipad doesn't move around like the paper does.

nighthawk24• 13 years ago

But does it accept Bitcoin?

mbetter• 13 years ago

> Accepted payment methods: Bitcoin, pogs, that Billy Ripken baseball card with an expletive on the bat, good intentions.

unethical_ban• 13 years ago

And firearms/firearm accessories stores around the world shrugged.

Square Debuts its Latest Hardware, a $299 Card Swiper for iPad Registers

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