Essentially you can open and close a tab with a bar whenever you want. Forget to close your tab and realize you're a mile away from the bar? No problem, you can close it and add tip from anywhere. Forget your credit card often at bars? You don't give them a CC in the first place because it's stored in your TabbedOut account.
It also does nifty things like allow you to split checks via the app at restaurants, which is super useful.
One of TabbedOut's big accomplishments is they have invested quite a bit of time/money integrating with point of sale systems which is what allows them to have such a slick user experience. I'm curious if this is something Square has done as well.
The iPad POS doesn't appear to be in the app store yet.
As a customer I like it. It's fast and slick. The employees seem to like it too.
Only one thing: if anybody from Square is reading this look into allowing the option of a bigger, sturdier card reader. The little on you ship now is flimsy and doesn't work too well if you use it 500 times a day.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8...
As you can see, you have published numerous articles on this company with a blatant formula to your titling strategy.
If I may offer some constructive criticism, I would recommend that you vary your language just a bit with the next Square article you post.
Thanks :)
At first exposure, the idea sounds really, really cool. But it sounds like they're breaking the normal purchase loop. Imagine lunch, for example (assuming you've already set up your tab, which is a lengthier first-run experience). You go up to pay, and then... what? TC explains it as:
> So once you press that button within two blocks of the merchant, you’ll be able to tell the cashier your name and your card will be charged on the merchant’s backend Square register.
So do you pay in advance? Afterwards? (In which case, can I just walk out and screw the retailer?) Do I as the user set up the bill, or does the merchant and I have to review it? Does either party have to wait for the other to confirm something? I've already been at Square retailers that have skipped Square during times of high customer peaks (opting for cash, which was much quicker).
These are probably just early questions that will look obvious and boring once it's all figured out and public, but right now I'm scratching my head a little.
At the restaurant, you order and eat as usual. When it's time to pay (before or after, as per normal at the restuarant) you just give your name instead of cash or credit card, and it's put on your tab. (Which you have to pay later, of course.)
Again, those are assumptions based on what little I've read... Which is probably the same or less than you've read.
So, half a million card readers have been shipped and they've each been used, on average, twice in this month? That seems really low to me. Do a lot of merchants get the reader and not use it at all?
It seems cool for techies, but is it really going to change the game?
UPDATE: Although this seems like more of a win for door to door sales and maybe mall kiosks.
There's a solid chunk of people who could benefit from accepting credit cards for whom the setup you've described isn't really worth it.
Moreover, if you already have an iDevice, which isn't much of a stretch, you now have a credit card terminal for free.
I think you're getting hung up on the form-factor of the iPad and missing the novel part: the software.
It not only gives every merchant the advantage of loyalty-card-type data streams, but gives tools that leverage that data to the customers as well.
Cash register software is notoriously bad. Even the big shops that spend millions on it. It really wouldn't take much to upend that business.
Because many "point of sale systems" cost far, far more than $500 and are steaming piles of bad user experience.
> Although this seems like more of a win for door to door sales and maybe mall kiosks.
Definitely, and private instructors as well. I teach dance classes/private lessons and being able to take a card right on the spot is incredibly convenient.
But those systems that cost more than $500 take credit, cash, and check. And you get accounting for all of the different types of sales you do. You still need that machine, if you do cash/check sales.
I don't know if it's even on the table, but I agree with the article; there should be bids out for this company. I'm hoping that Dorsey et al do not sell it. I could see Visa buying them and doing something destructive - intentionally or not.
I can buy a Cash Register for around $50, whereas iPads start from $500
Not to mention that when the day is over, you have an iPad.
For example Erply (http://www.erply.com/), an award-winning startup, recently made news with porting their web based POS solution to iPads recently. Any others you know?
Allowing simple iOS protocol handlers like "square://pay?product1=Mug&price1=20.00&product2=Shirt&price2=22.00&callback=inventorify%3A%2F%2Fsquare_callback" and it callsback to url "inventorify://square_callback?success=true&paid=42.00" would be amazing as I don't have to have the awkward step of "Exit the inventorify app and charge the customer for $42.00 through the Square app" and then the cashier forgets the amount to charge for.
Most crunchbase entries do come straight from the PR team... Users can edit them, so most companies do and Crunchbase says what you want it to. It's sort of like a moderated wiki.
https://www.facecash.com/register.html
It's JavaScript-based so it works on just about every platform, not just iPad.
relevant: http://feefighters.com/square-calculator - a reminder of how good Square's pricing is (relative to a merchant account) for coffeshops, etc.
If they become the new merchant-interface, there's nothing stopping them from offering an alternate payment mechanism that doesn't rely on credit or debit cards.
Another is that Visa believes that Square is a threat, thinks they may be successful and has invested to mitigate that threat, get visibility into their activities, and so on.
The only place they may have an edge is low volume, low price, transactions.
About time, too.
It's disruptive because it changes the customer demographics for some of these businesses and the way they think about payments (customer analytics, payment options, loyalty programs).
Square is poised to gain market share very quickly AND there's a huge play to be made in emerging markets where the mainstream guys haven't found great traction and smartphone usage is growing rapidly.
Not really: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_stripe_card
The stripe usually just has the cardholder name, the card number, expiration date, and sometimes the CVV. It depends a lot on what tracks are present on the card, what info your bank has included in the "discretionary data" chunk, which track was read by the reader, etc.
If you grab a cheap USB magstripe reader, you'll find that most things (library cards, student IDs, airline tickets, etc) really don't include much of anything that is not already printed on the item.
There are technologies like MagnePrint (http://www.magneprint.com/) that use the signature of the ferrous oxide particles on the card. But it requires your bank and the merchant to use the tech.
This may sound dumb, but why not just put this additional security code in a bar code or QR code somewhere on the surface of the card to allow for the equivalent security using a camera to read the card?
Card layouts also vary a lot, even from the same issuers (for example: the Amex PASS).
Reading the mag stripe prevents fraud and therefore is subject to lower fees by CC companies.
Not to mention, having someone take a picture of my credit card would spook me out a little (yes, even if I'm familiar with the product).
Considering that augmented reality app that translates words on signs in real time, I suspect there is far less entropy in the raised numbers on a credit card... though you may be right that the variety of layouts would make it harder than it would at first seem.
If Apple makes the NFC APIs private, though, that could put the hurt on Square given their heavy iOS investment.
That said, there isn't any reason why Square wouldn't just transition their App to adopt both their physical Square device as well as the built-in NFC chips to have both working with their App (assuming NFC API are available). There's too much speculation and guessing to determine how things will turn out. But Square does have a lot going on for them at the moment between their partnership with VISA and their devices being sold in Apple stores. Hard to believe that they won't be able to innovate and pivot to continue growth even with NFC coming out eventually.
It's also worth noting that Square also works for non-merchants including random street vendors, hot dog stands, and the like to be able to accept credit card payments. NFC would not work for this crowd and that's another disruption Square is going to have in their favor.
Generally there are only a few people using TabbedOut at any given time, if not just me, so it's not hard for the bartender to remember me (bar tenders are quite good at remembering faces and names as they do it so often).
Socially however, I'd wager that fewer people would let you take a picture of their card compared to swiping it. People are simply used to having credit cards swiped, they aren't used to having pictures taken of them.
But Square enjoys a tremendous user experience advantage. It's easier for everyone to use.
Now, in my theoretical universe where Apple is a bunch of dicks and decides that they'll keep the NFC APIs to themselves, and assuming they run a service that competes with Square...
Who's going to want to attach a plastic weiner to their phone versus just having the "magical, it just works" action that Apple will provide with their service?
Of course, it may well be that Apple wants a usurious fee for their service (30%!) and Square could still compete on price. Still – a world where Square can harness NFC directly on an Apple device is a much better deal for them than one where they can't.
On your second comment, I agree that a targeted acquisition would help Apple get a lead in the payment space but we'll have to wait and see how the whole NFC thing plays out to make that judgement call.
Yes, if you need a much more complicated system then you'll need to pay more, but many people don't. There's no way I could afford, or would want to use, most POS systems out there.
But really that's another point that's not so important. My broader point is that this doesn't feel extremely innovative or disruptive. I knew people who did laptop based credit card processing... what 15 years ago? Didn't have the slider, so you had to type the number. And today I can get the equipment for just CC processing for free. And there is some decent software, but the best, like Intuit's is paid.
But this feels really incremental over the course of 15 years. The SW is cheaper, but the transaction percentage is much higher. This doesn't feel like a shift in the way people buy things or companies collect payment in the same way as checks/credit cards/paypal/debit cards did.
Not saying its a bad product, but I'm not seeing the innovation/disruption. I'm seeing a good next step for some use cases.
If you'd like, you can email me your statement and I'll tell you what you're really paying
What kind of process does one go through to set up a Square account to take payments?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_security_code
"The first code, called CVC1 or CVV1, is encoded on the magnetic stripe of the card and used for transactions in person. The purpose of the CVC1 or CVV1 is to ensure the data stored on the magnetic stripe of the card is valid and was generated by the issuing bank. This value is submitted as part of transactions and is verified by the issuing bank. A limitation of the CVC1 or CVV1 is that if the entire magnetic stripe is copied, rather than generated, the card can be duplicated. See the Skimming section for more details.
The second code, and the most cited, is CVV2 or CVC2. This CSC (also known as a CCID or Credit Card ID) is often asked for by merchants for them to secure card not present transactions occurring over the Internet, by mail, fax or over the phone. In many countries in Western Europe, due to increased attempts at card fraud, it is now mandatory to provide this code when the cardholder is not present in person."
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8634
Also, searching for "magentic card writer" on ebay returns quite a few models.
http://stores.ebay.com/Mini-MagReader?_trksid=p4340.l2563
Take a look at the handheld readers. It will make you never want to let your credit card out of your sight again.
I get that they're killing it at craft fairs, but I'm the with the thread-parent...I don't see what the "disruption" is here.
*edit: Re-reading this I realize that it seems like I'm implying that Square is a bad product... which isn't what I'm saying. I think they're going to make insane amounts of money (I'd invest in them given the chance). They can be huge without being truly 'disruptive', however.
Reading QR or other codes with a smartphone's camera is extremely cumbersome whereas swiping a mag-stripe is simple and reliable.
It would seem that with a small investment in a magnetic stripe writer and a plastic mould, any scammer could create cards that could fool an imprint swiper or magnetic stripe reader.
Further, wouldn't a signature make all of the above close to equivalent?
True, but still even easier to duplicate a QR code.
Signatures don't help very much since the fraudster can sign his own fake card. That's why more stores are asking to see drivers licenses which is annoying.
> Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.
No. I was replying to this...
Starbucks already has wifi. Don't most payment processors use some sort of Internet connection these days?