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Square Seeks to Revolutionize Retail Sales With 'Square Register' for iPad and 'Card Case'

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Square, the company that has brought the ability to accept credit cards for transactions to individuals and small businesses with a card reader dongle for iOS devices, today announced its next venture: "Square Register" for iPad. Seeking to replace traditional cash registers with iPads equipped with the new Square Register application, Square notes that the app will allow businesses to easily customize the register interface with their full list of products.

Analytics tools will allow businesses to see up-the-minute details on sales performance, broken down by any number of metrics to help businesses study sales trends. The Square Register functionality comes as an update to the iPad version of the company's universal App Store app.

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From the customer perspective, Square is rolling out "Card Case", virtual business cards that allow customers to view details on their favorite businesses, directly accessing live-updated menus and product listings from the card as well as transaction histories with item-level detail.

Replacing loyalty cards and credit card payment methods, Square Cards will allow a customer to establish a relationship with a business and pay for goods without having to carry a wallet, a mechanism Square CEO Jack Dorsey likens to having a permanent tab opened with the business. Transaction confirmations and receipts are pushed to users' phones for record-tracking. Users can initiate a payment by activating the business's Square Card on their phone when within range of the business and then simply giving their name at the register to have the purchase charged to their account.

Square Register and Square Cards are rolling out now through 50 merchants located in New York City, San Francisco, Washington DC, St. Louis, and Los Angeles, with further expansion coming soon.

Article Link: Square Seeks to Revolutionize Retail Sales With 'Square Register' for iPad and 'Card Case'
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/05/23/square-seeks-to-revolutionize-retail-sales-with-square-register-for-ipad-and-card-case/
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dvkid

macrumors regular
Feb 18, 2006
176
68
This could be very neat. I'd been hoping that somebody (Walmart, Target) would move towards paperless receipts the way Apple Retail has. Maybe it'll be the smaller retailers leading the eco charge in this space, though.
 
S

shingi70

macrumors regular
Mar 14, 2010
160
0
Im going to purchase stock in this company. Been following them since last year and i love what thier doing. If this is successful they could be going into a very lucratuve bussiness. Starting off with the reader, then to the card then late 2011/early 12 become the nfc standard so no matter how you pay you can.
 
E

Eddyisgreat

macrumors 601
Oct 24, 2007
4,851
2
Having worked with various retail POS systems from IBM et al I hope this finally allows a departure from the draconian interfaces which look as if design and operator usability were not allowed to be discussed in the development phase.
 
KindredMAC

KindredMAC

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2003
975
218
This is awesome news! I LOVE my Square app on my iPhone4. It has been great for everyday life and the occasional yard sale.

When everyone in the office wants to order lunch or flowers for a sick coworker, I can be the one that places the order and I can take debit/credit cards from the other workers for their share of the total and the same goes for office lunch. I always make sure that I tell them to add on a buck or so for the hit I take from the percentage Square takes but for the convenience no one has objected.

And you wouldn't believe the looks I get from people who are going around to the yard sales and come to ours and see that I can take a credit card! We have sold a lot more objects and some bigger ticket items because of this option. People are much more apt to spend $50 for TV on their credit card than to have $50 in cash extra on their person.
 
AppleScruff1

AppleScruff1

macrumors G4
Feb 10, 2011
10,026
2,949
I envision the day when the iPad will be used for everything. Can you imagine how speedy the checkout lines will be at WalMart on Saturday afternoon with iPads instead of cash registers?
 
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Daveoc64

macrumors 601
Jan 16, 2008
4,074
92
Bristol, UK
AppleScruff1 said:
I envision the day when the iPad will be used for everything. Can you imagine how speedy the checkout lines will be at WalMart on Saturday afternoon with iPads instead of cash registers?
Click to expand...

Why on earth do you think that?

I don't see how an iPad can replace an EPOS used by a company like WalMart.

Does the iPad weigh fruit?
Does the iPad scan barcodes?
Does the iPad have a cash drawer?
Is it Linked to a Conveyor Belt?

There isn't any convenience or benefit in using a tiny, portable device at a station where you're being served by someone who is sitting or standing in the exact same place.

The market Square is targeting is very different.
 
Last edited:
neiltc13

neiltc13

macrumors 68040
May 27, 2006
3,126
19
Wow talk about out of date technology. Transactions are declined by banks if the card are swiped like this image suggests (and have been for years). Surely they have an updated device supporting chip reader (and PIN entry)?
 
J

JAT

macrumors 603
Dec 31, 2001
6,473
124
Mpls, MN
AppleScruff1 said:
I envision the day when the iPad will be used for everything. Can you imagine how speedy the checkout lines will be at WalMart on Saturday afternoon with iPads instead of cash registers?
Click to expand...
How would the iPad be faster for people buying many things? I can see an iPad being an excellent register for small shops and mobile shops like mall kiosks. But Walmart?

I'm still waiting for the system envisioned in commercials where your entire cart is scanned as you walk out the door. That would be fast.
 
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Daveoc64

macrumors 601
Jan 16, 2008
4,074
92
Bristol, UK
neiltc13 said:
Wow talk about out of date technology. Transactions are now declined by banks if the card are swiped like this image suggests. Surely they have an updated device supporting chip reader (and PIN entry)?
Click to expand...

Not in the US - which is why this system wont work outside of it.
 
SockRolid

SockRolid

macrumors 68000
Jan 5, 2010
1,560
118
Almost Rock Solid
Great idea

I wonder if the rumored NFC-enabled iPhone (and other smartphones that already have NFC chips) will affect the adoption of Square Cards. It'll be interesting to see how retail evolves over the next decade. We're moving toward a cashless and credit card-less "wallet". Just your drivers' license.
 
D

DisMyMac

macrumors 65816
Sep 30, 2009
1,087
11
MacRumors said:
Square Cards will allow a customer to establish a relationship with a business and pay for goods without having to carry a wallet, a mechanism Square CEO Jack Dorsey likens to having a permanent tab opened with the business.
Click to expand...

"Relationship" as in tracking what, when, and where you buy stuff so that companies can bomb you with ads on the assumption you'll buy more. (Actually not just you, but your known connections as well.)

What a great relationship... it's more like criminal stalking.
 
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Daveoc64

macrumors 601
Jan 16, 2008
4,074
92
Bristol, UK
the8thark said:
No. But my imac can. Via the Delicious Library App. So I am sure the ipad 2 can scan bar codes if someone was to write a little software to do it.
Click to expand...

Ah, of course. The iPad (and iPhone) can do it that way through software (using a camera), but it's nowhere near as efficient as using a dedicated barcode scanner.

Sales staff in supermarkets are rated on how many items they can scan per minute.

It would be MUCH lower with an iPad. i.e. slower

It would be difficult to have useful data on the screen at the same time that the camera was being used to line up a barcode scan.
 
S

shingi70

macrumors regular
Mar 14, 2010
160
0
SockRolid said:
I wonder if the rumored NFC-enabled iPhone (and other smartphones that already have NFC chips) will affect the adoption of Square Cards. It'll be interesting to see how retail evolves over the next decade. We're moving toward a cashless and credit card-less "wallet". Just your drivers' license.
Click to expand...

They can coesit. Tons of people who dont want to bother with nfc but could use this. This is also a better solution for low income communitys.
 
1

126351

Guest
Sep 17, 2007
175
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Has anyone got Square working with Filemaker?

I'm thinking maybe create the invoice with Go, take the payment with Square and a batch script sends the result of the Square transaction into Go to show the invoice as paid.
 
Lesser Evets

Lesser Evets

macrumors 68040
Jan 7, 2006
3,527
1,294
I've been reading and re-reading and trying to get my head around this... they hope to replace a tiny wallet with an iPad. Sounds... bulkier. The scope of this stuff is a little confusing and fuzzy on the edges; while some of it makes perfect sense, some of it seems redundant.

The Wal•mart self-checkout lines are good as is, to me. Those cashiers there are stuck in slow motion, and with a credit card anyone can breeze through the process. I'm assuming the iPad reads some kind of electronic noise from products? Or will it swipe bar codes? Seems to do stuff already done, but maybe Square will help the retailer with better software.
 
RafaelT

RafaelT

macrumors 65816
Jun 9, 2010
1,169
15
NM
Square has a good App and service over all but they still have some basic things they need to take care of before it is a great App. The tip situation is a mess, they have acknowledged it but still no fix. The temp auth 40% more then the transaction to cover possible tips. They also don't allow you to put in an exact amount for the tip.
 
N

neven

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2006
815
0
Portland, OR
ScottishDuck said:
Good to know I can steal credit cards and use them at the Apple store now, no more PIN codes!
Click to expand...

Credit card don't require PINs; you're thinking of debit cards. Credit cards in the US require a signature - the same is true with Square. Square is a VISA-backed financial business; let's give them the benefit of assuming they've actually thought through any scenario you think up in 5 minutes :)
 
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