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I've been using square since their first mag stripe reader. It's always worked well, especially when friends owe you money and say they don't have any cash on them, haha.

Here's a video of setup and a demo transaction with the new reader:

I had a garage sale a few months ago when I sold my house. Having Square available enabled me to sell a bunch of big ticket items that people were interested in, but didn't have enough cash to buy.
 
My local coffee shop got one of these, and no-one has any idea that it supports apple pay or that it's wireless. They keep it out of reach & plugged in. On the bright side, when I ask them to bring it out to let me use Apple Pay, they are surprised and delighted.
Square's (now dead) wallet app had a similar problem. No cashier understood it.

Similar story here. I saw the reader with the Apple Pay logo on it and said "I'll use Apple Pay". The cashier said "We don't support Apple Pay". I said "Yes you do, I see the reader right there." I used my Apple Watch and she got a real kick out of it -- then moved the reader back out of reach. Finally after a couple weeks the reader is front and center and they don't have to move it just for me. The Square system is nice because it remembers who you are based on your payment type (even with a regular credit card) and if you opt-in one time will automatically email you a receipt. Very convenient.
 
It's puzzling to me why Apple wouldn't sell their own card reader and provide a soup-to-nuts platform for small businesses. I already see iPads at many mom-n-pop stores being used for their POS system. They're all running janky custom apps. They're mostly all using the Square readers. Why is Apple happy to let Square insert themselves between Apple Pay and the end-customer? They need to get into this huge market segment.

Apple's never been good at B2B type stuff. If they did release such a thing they probably wouldn't promote it well if at all.

I may be mistaken but I think the loyalty cards (where this shines) are those linked directly to a bank account or credit card. I am unsure that your standard loyalty card even pplaies to be honest, but I very well could be wron gthere. In any case, this absolutely adds a large layer of security to a card that taps directly into a bank account for funds.

Walgreens' NFC based loyalty card only transmits loyalty info. You still need to choose a credit/debit card in Wallet to pay with Apple Pay. Most others will likely be the same.
 
I love Apple Pay. It is super fast and convenient. Unfortunately, I don't get to use it much because of the damn retailers.

So far I have used it only at Walgreens and Fresh Market. None of the other stores that I frequent have Apple Pay, all because of business politics and not technology limitations.

The stores I wish had apple pay are
1) Publix (they can't even get their chip reader to work yet! yikes).
2) Walmart (they are busy rolling out their awkward QR code based Walmart Pay).
3) Home Depot (Last May there was an article saying they are going to rollout Apple Pay, then in December they sent an email saying they have not made any decisions - seems backward).
4) Lowes - Nothing yet.
5) Target - Nothing!!
 
I'll tell you if I had a small business I would have this reader and an iPad... You can't beat the price.

If I had a large business, I'd have the MX925's, because they're the most vivid and beautiful payment machines around today.
I would agree with you on that one. But ingenicos look good too!
 
It's puzzling to me why Apple wouldn't sell their own card reader and provide a soup-to-nuts platform for small businesses. I already see iPads at many mom-n-pop stores being used for their POS system. They're all running janky custom apps. They're mostly all using the Square readers. Why is Apple happy to let Square insert themselves between Apple Pay and the end-customer? They need to get into this huge market segment.


You won't need a card reader eventually if Apple Pay becomes ubiquitous. That's probably why Apple doesn't want to do that. But yeah, they could technically do it of course. Like I said in a previous post, I have not had to use the magnetic stripe on my cards for several years now. The chip inserted, yes, but no mag stripe.

I remember back in the day of the mag stripe, sometimes the clerk would have a special taped up plastic bag and magically wipe your mag stripe when it wasn't working. It was funny. Now we just have NFC that doesn't work haha.
 
I WISH I had that much time on my hands.

It takes five minutes... Seriously?
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Similar story here. I saw the reader with the Apple Pay logo on it and said "I'll use Apple Pay". The cashier said "We don't support Apple Pay". I said "Yes you do, I see the reader right there." I used my Apple Watch and she got a real kick out of it -- then moved the reader back out of reach. Finally after a couple weeks the reader is front and center and they don't have to move it just for me. The Square system is nice because it remembers who you are based on your payment type (even with a regular credit card) and if you opt-in one time will automatically email you a receipt. Very convenient.

Sounds like Subway. The reader has the NFC logo on it and has the Apple Pay logo on it... Yet, it's next to the register out of the way so the cashier has to swipe the card for you. Just put it where the customers can use the NFC feature and swipe their own cards. Better yet, don't be like all of the other stupid fast food places, and actually upgrade your card readers so they can be certified for EMV.
 
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That was for the magstripe reader. It's still included with the NFC/EMV reader for free.

My package says: Contactless+chipcards and magstripe cards
(same as I had before and yes in the package again )

I will have to check if they charge me next transaction.

I presume you do mail order exclusively? You are paying higher card-not-present fees if you don't swipe a card.

Yes, 3.5% accepting money whichever way I can get it:) Customer choice, not mine.
 
Thats how the device accepts payment from the user, what I was asking is how does the device connect you the merchants device, the old square readers connect via headphone jack. The new one will not connect to the phone though NFC as that is not a supported connection type.
 
I'd use the NFC read to purchase a skylake macbook pro, if it ever comes out....
 
Apple has an terribly ugly case that they put on their iPhone in the Apple Store that allows them to accept Apple Pay and credit cards. It also has a scanner built in. Apple should buy Square so they can get their design folks to help Jony out. Square has a very nice simple Apple-like design. In addition, with Apple's backing, Square could finally expand overseas and really help Apple Pay get better penetration.

Come on Tim, this seems like a really smart investment, even if not as sexy as buying beats.
The ugly case is the Verifone e315 sleeve for the iPhone 5s. It may not be Apple like but it is still a nice device that does a lot. The e315 also has a mophie like battery and provides drop protection for the iPhone.
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Yes. Perhaps there will be an app for that. Why do we even need "Square". I haven't swiped a mag strip on my card for several years now. Worst case has been to slide in your Visa chip card. I guess I answered my own question. But yeah, if NFC and Apple Pay can work with an iPhone app, there is your use case for person to person micro transactions.

As for Point of Sale systems, I never had to pay for terminals - the bank always supplied them free. That's why they are mostly crap.
The ones here the big stores you do have to pay for them as they are integrated. The Mx925 etc.

The free ones don't even do chip card, or they are chip only with no NFC. Wells Fargo merchant services charges extra for the NFC one. The basic one is chip and swipe only.
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It takes five minutes... Seriously?
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Sounds like Subway. The reader has the NFC logo on it and has the Apple Pay logo on it... Yet, it's next to the register out of the way so the cashier has to swipe the card for you. Just put it where the customers can use the NFC feature and swipe their own cards. Better yet, don't be like all of the other stupid fast food places, and actually upgrade your card readers so they can be certified for EMV.
I usually just ask the cashier and they never said no to handing the machine over to me. Then I speak to the manager about their poor decisions and usually they fix it and it isn't a problem again. All subways here have the terminal on my side of the counter now :)
 
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I usually just ask the cashier and they never said no to handing the machine over to me. Then I speak to the manager about their poor decisions and usually they fix it and it isn't a problem again. All subways here have the terminal on my side of the counter now

Should've been that way to begin with. How do you expect customers to use their contactless cards or their phone to pay if the terminal isn't even within reach of the customer?
 
Yes, I am frankly baffled as to why Square didn't bother to make it all-in-one card reader (magstripe, contactless, chip), replacing the need to keep 3.5mm headphones jack based magstripe reader.

Because in a year's time magstripe will be phased out, chipped cards aren't everywhere yet, and it would only raise the cost necessarily for those who already have the former. And really this is an excellent device for restaurants as a solution for accepting Pay. Just bring the little wireless brick to their table and let them pull their phone out to complete the transaction. Most restaurants are still going to take your credit card away whether it's magstripe or chip.

Moreover, Square is probably waiting to see what happens with the removal of the 3.5mm jack before they start selling an all-in-one unit that either connects via lightning, or BT. More than likely anyone who relies on Square will keep their old iPhone at least another generation anyway should the 7 actually drop the 3.5mm jack.
 
Apple's never been good at B2B type stuff. If they did release such a thing they probably wouldn't promote it well if at all.

Well, they could punt the development of a POS app to their business partner IBM. I disagree that they've "never been good at B2B". Old Apple was hugely popular with small businesses. It is only really post-iPhone that Apple has had a huge focus on end-customers. But now Tim has placed more emphasis on enterprise and their revenue there was $25B last year, a 40% increase YoY. So I don't see supporting business storefronts as counter to Tim's strategy there. A card reader is really low-hanging fruit, and they've probably even developed a prototype internally, so I'm not sure what the strategy is behind letting a third-party own a segment that is a lifeline to increasing Apple Pay usage in stores.

You won't need a card reader eventually if Apple Pay becomes ubiquitous. That's probably why Apple doesn't want to do that. But yeah, they could technically do it of course. Like I said in a previous post, I have not had to use the magnetic stripe on my cards for several years now. The chip inserted, yes, but no mag stripe.

You must not live in the USA... chip cards only became mandated here recently (not even chip+pin). I can't imagine physical cards being phased out here for another decade, at least. And given the competing business interests, I'd be very surprised if Apple Pay ever becomes ubiquitous. NFC payments in general, probably so. But at least they could control the storefront, if they made that a priority.
 
Because in a year's time magstripe will be phased out, chipped cards aren't everywhere yet, and it would only raise the cost necessarily for those who already have the former. And really this is an excellent device for restaurants as a solution for accepting Pay. Just bring the little wireless brick to their table and let them pull their phone out to complete the transaction. Most restaurants are still going to take your credit card away whether it's magstripe or chip.

Moreover, Square is probably waiting to see what happens with the removal of the 3.5mm jack before they start selling an all-in-one unit that either connects via lightning, or BT. More than likely anyone who relies on Square will keep their old iPhone at least another generation anyway should the 7 actually drop the 3.5mm jack.
But my gift cards that I sell are magstripe only. I don't think Square is going to furnish chip gift cards.
 
You're kidding me right? You save $49 of your first transaction fees after buying the reader.

People keep saying this, but currently you do NOT get $49 worth of transaction fees waived when you buy it from Square or anywhere else. That was a limited promotion that ended October 1st, 2015.
 
Super curious when Apple will let an iOS device accept an Apple Pay NFC charge natively. All the hardware is there.

Actually, Apple could make a card reader, process everything through the Apple Pay system and completely take over the small-biz cash register business. People are already using iPads/iPhones with Square or sometimes PayPal or sometimes ShopKeep for "cash registers".

Apple Pay is a payment system. Setting up merchant capabilities is entirely different.

That said, if the hardware works without security limitations, I don't see why Apple couldn't let third parties, with strict controls, use it as a reader.
 
Apple-Square.jpg

Hey I saw you guys taking this picture yesterday. Right outside my office!
 
Apple has an terribly ugly case that they put on their iPhone in the Apple Store that allows them to accept Apple Pay and credit cards. It also has a scanner built in. Apple should buy Square so they can get their design folks to help Jony out. Square has a very nice simple Apple-like design. In addition, with Apple's backing, Square could finally expand overseas and really help Apple Pay get better penetration.

Come on Tim, this seems like a really smart investment, even if not as sexy as buying beats.

They probably use Verifone cases because they're a lot more robust than a headset jack-mounted card reader. Besides, using Verifone lets Apple use internal software that can be better integrated.
 
You need a Symbian phone for that.


Now THAT was a mobile operating system! Too bad the original Executives of Nokia got too fat on their haunches and got lazy with pushing and marketing the OS for further development! All their marketing dollars went into hardware (N95, N97, N85, E90 the last communicator hurrah strike an accord with me). They where late in developing the 7700/7710's S90 OS into pure touch and NEVER pushed for hardware development BEFORE iOS' iPhone 1 debuted.

They simply got FAT! Too bad and far too sad as that OS had some serious potential: C++, Cascades, Ruby, Python, J2ME etc.
 
Apple Pay is a payment system. Setting up merchant capabilities is entirely different.

That said, if the hardware works without security limitations, I don't see why Apple couldn't let third parties, with strict controls, use it as a reader.
An iPhone will not pass EMV or PCI certifications on its own.
 
Received our chip readers from Square a few weeks ago. They were free since we were already with Square and pre-ordered back in July or August IIRC. I did have to purchase the 'mount'. They connect to the iPad/iPhone running the Square App via bluetooth. The only reason to plug in the reader is to charge the battery. Ours is permanently connected so as not to run out of juice and is placed next to our Square Stand on the counter. It works both as a chip reader and an NFC reader. If you need to enter a PIN, you would do so via the iPad. The reader is merely an add on for the Square Stand which houses an iPad and is attached to a counter top for brick and mortar retailers.
 
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