Square Putting iPads in NYC Taxis, Unveils Full-Fledged Register App for Retail Stores

[MacRumors]

Credit card processing company Square is rolling out a trial of its payment platform in New York City taxicabs using iPads with custom cases as payment terminals, the New York Times reports. The system will be outfitted in 30 cabs to start, with the main benefit being ease of use. Passengers can swipe their card at any time during their journey, sign the screen with their finger, and then have a receipt emailed or texted to them.

Instead of the traditional blaring screens, these taxis will be outfitted with Square's latest hardware -- an iPad encased in a black metal sleeve that is connected to a credit card swiper. The screen displays a slick Apple-like design of New York too, showing information about your location, fare and route.

Megan Quinn, Square's director of product, said in an interview at the company's San Francisco headquarters that taxi drivers around the United States were some of the company's "most loyal customers," often swiping people's credit cards on their phone after a ride. But in New York, where tight regulation limits drivers, Square had to come up with an alternate solution.

In addition to the new taxi initiative, Square has also introduced a new Register app for retail stores. The app lets brick and mortar merchants fill up their app with pre-priced items, and allowing merchants to wirelessly print receipts and open a cash drawer when a purchase is made. Additionally, Square has included an extensive analytics feature into Register.

The new app and Square also features in-depth analytics, allowing merchants to segment consumer payments data and transactions. The dashboard provides a glance of basic sales information and recent transaction history, including the number of payments, subtotals, tax, tips, refunds, account deposits, etc. It also shows several interactive data sets, breaking down sales by month, days of the week, time of day, and even size of payment. Merchants can access and explore these analytics when they log into their Square account online as well.

Square is now processing $4 billion in payments per year, double what it was processing in October 2011.

Article Link: Square Putting iPads in NYC Taxis, Unveils Full-Fledged Register App for Retail Stores

 

[lavem]

This stuff is awesome. I wish they could come up with chip and pin hardware for the UK/Europe so we could see these kind of solutions. Card swiping is so old fashioned

 

[davidwarren]

what? was it processing $2 billion just in October 2011?

 

[Exotic-Car Man]

Cash cab

They should put one of these in the Cash Cab!

Seriously though, this is really fascinating. This seems to be a sign of Square's growing prominence in everyday business transactions. I can only hope this becomes adopted by cab drivers. I don't live in New York, but just the idea of having this technological development in an area such as taxis is intriguing.

The only question I have is how would the cab drivers prevent their passengers from stealing the iPads? Yes, the cases are metal, but iPads are light.

 

[nd3eb]

I live in NYC. All taxi cabs already have touch screen TV's/devices in them and you can pay by credit card through these devices.

They are bolted into the backrest behind the cab driver, so I'm assuming that the iPads will be installed the same way.

While this seems like a cool technology, it's really nothing new, other than they would be replacing the current touch screen devices they have with iPads.

 

[RoboCop001]

Every time I see "Square" I think SquareEnix.

 

[Mad-B-One]

The only question I have is how would the cab drivers prevent their passengers from stealing the iPads? Yes, the cases are metal, but iPads are light.

I guess the iPad-in-case is mounted to the divider between front and back and that makes it impossible to steal. If not, use "Find my iPad" App and track down this - now on foot - thief!

 

[jayducharme]

I like that iPad case they made. That's what should be deployed to retail establishments as well. Square's odd little dongle for the iPad's headphone jack looks like it would be really flimsy, prone to spinning around when you tried to swipe a card. I still don't understand why they didn't make an attachment for the dock connector.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

And I have an interview for a position on their iOS dev team tomorrow night - so excited!

 

[blacktape242]

i wouldn't want to touch one after 50 thousand others have before me....

gross.....

 

[shiftyroach]

I'm glad that depressed bearded hipster is no longer doing their commercials.

 

[kirky29]

And I have an interview for a position on their iOS dev team tomorrow night - so excited!

Good luck!

 

[The Economist]

I live in NYC. All taxi cabs already have touch screen TV's/devices in them and you can pay by credit card through these devices.

They are bolted into the backrest behind the cab driver, so I'm assuming that the iPads will be installed the same way.

While this seems like a cool technology, it's really nothing new, other than they would be replacing the current touch screen devices they have with iPads.

Indeed. I'm not sure why spend money on a new technology that does the same thing. The payment process in a cab with a credit card is already easy enough. You can either watch advertisements or your route on current cabs.

 

[xionxiox]

i wouldn't want to touch one after 50 thousand others have before me....

gross.....

So you must hate touching an ATM.

 

[Joz3d]

i wouldn't want to touch one after 50 thousand others have before me....

gross.....

What do you, use gloves outside all the time when using an ATM or OPENING DOORS?

 

[blacktape242]

What do you, use gloves outside all the time when using an ATM or OPENING DOORS?

i wish lol

 

[Keebler]

when in Canada?

As a small business owner, I can not wait for Square to be released in Canada.

Intuit has an option supposedly coming.
Payfirma is another choice as is Kudos, but I've read they have hidden or not-explained-so well other fees.

I have a smaller transaction rate with higher average billing so paying per swipe is more beneficial to me than having a cc machine from a bank at $40 or more / month plus other fees.

A new era is upon us and judging by the amount of business Square is processing, it's coming fast!

 

[SchneiderMan]

Would about a receipt?

 

[cultivate]

Why haven't they brought this to Canada yet!

 

[mrsir2009]

The photo of the register looks slick.

 

[whooleytoo]

Would be cool if you could call a taxi using an iPhone/iPad app, and then you'd show on that device in the taxi's screen for the driver (reminds me a bit of the taxi missions in GTA!)

The app would probably need to be linked to a credit card, so you can't just call taxis and then not show up.

 

[617arg]

Indeed. I'm not sure why spend money on a new technology that does the same thing. The payment process in a cab with a credit card is already easy enough. You can either watch advertisements or your route on current cabs.

There was a little news piece on WNYC about this the other day. There were two main reasons for the switch. One was to make for a quieter (ad free) ride. The other (more important for the driver) was that the fee Square is charging is actually less than what cab drivers are paying now.

 

[I H8 UM]

Square App

We use the Square app in our brew pub. It is great, but it has some big problems for us. Tipping and Tabs. The tipping window is just below where you sign your name. Most people are trained to tip then sign, so the tips are overlooked 70% of the time. They hit the continue button and then ask, "Where do I tip?" We have to point it out, which seems rude. They changed it in the Square Register App, but now the tip window is placed so that it is on a screen by itself as the first thing a customer sees when you ask for their signature. It is a very rude way to ask a customer for their signature. This is a simple fix. It is just irritating that their interface designers would not have caught it. I hope they change it. The second thing is that you cannot keep tabs. We have to total up a bill and write it on a paper, then take it to the table. The customer reviews it and hands us the card for the swipe. During this time no one else can check out or you will have to clear the data from the screen. This makes checking out multiple checks at a table very slow. Our customers are irritated. A simple save button would solve this. We can't wait for the next revision as we have communicated with Square about these problems. If they fix them, it will be a very good app.

 

[Consultant]

This stuff is awesome. I wish they could come up with chip and pin hardware for the UK/Europe so we could see these kind of solutions. Card swiping is so old fashioned

So when you lose your phone, you lose your wallet and you have no phone to call the card company?

 

[The Economist]

There was a little news piece on WNYC about this the other day. There were two main reasons for the switch. One was to make for a quieter (ad free) ride. The other (more important for the driver) was that the fee Square is charging is actually less than what cab drivers are paying now.

I see. I wasn't aware about that, thanks.