
Introducing the Square Stand - goughjustin
https://squareup.com/stand
======
xianshou
The pricing makes very little sense to me...Square already sells Business in a
Box for $250 with a cash drawer and $500 if you want a receipt printer. This
stand costs six times as much as similar options (<http://amzn.to/102UtKn>)
and the only real improvement is the long track.

If you've ever spent a day swiping credit cards with a Square reader, though,
that long track will look mighty attractive...

The market for this: trendy premium SF coffee shops.

~~~
socmoth
Random details you may of missed:

"The integrated card reader keeps information secure from swipe to payment."

That means integrated encryption in to the stand. There are probably some
other details. How to mount the thing to the table, how to connect devices.

Edit: disclaimer, former square here. Details matter.

~~~
nopal
So does that mean it's PCI compliant?

------
evo_9
What an absolutely brilliant & simple move by Square. POS register systems are
a huge, costly market and this is an incredibly attractive option, esp at that
price - talk about disruption! Nice job guys!

~~~
diasol
Groupon already does this and cheaper
[http://breadcrumb.groupon.com/](http://breadcrumb.groupon.com/)

~~~
dang
The updated link is [https://upserve.com/platform/restaurant-
pos/](https://upserve.com/platform/restaurant-pos/)

(The old link does not redirect, and we got an email asking us to update it.)

------
_lex
That white clean look is going to start looking disgusting once it gets use in
the real world. I see them imitating apple's design aesthetic, but they really
should have learned from the white macbook - because this is going to be
worse. Cash registers are already always dirty, because there's high
transaction volume there - it's literally the bottleneck. Now it's white and
pretty looking, so it'll draw your eye, which basically requires every
business who gets the square stand to give it a good clean daily.

~~~
merah
> requires every business who gets the square stand to give it a good clean
> daily

And this a bad thing? Cleanliness of retail stores especially food/beverage is
quite a deciding factor for both new and returning customers I would imagine.
To take you're point further though, which I think you may have implied, once
a white macbook gets a scratch/stain, it's likely permanent and looks nasty.
Let's hope they've chosen a resilient material for this stand atleast.

------
ruswick
I'm not sure who this is for. Square originated as a simple way for
individuals and very small businesses to take credit without a massive
investment. Evidently, businesses also took interest in such a product.

However, a $300 kiosk is probably out of the realm of possibility for many
one-man operations. At the same time, the business demographic to which they
are appealing with this (larger established businesses that need a physically-
integrated register solution) is already competed over by a plethora of
companies.

The whole point of Square was to occupy the niche of hyper-small operations
and forsake the market for large businesses. Not only are they competing with
the established companies like Verafone, but also with the dozen or so other
companies that target larger businesses with iPad register solutions. I'm not
sure if they will be able to compete.

That's not to say that this will be unsuccessful. Obviously, Square has had
some success in penetrating the large-business market. I don't know. Maybe
Starbucks will buy 10,000 of them or something. It just seems like a more
volatile and crowded market...

~~~
jrochkind1
A BUNCH of small businesses with physical storefronts I frequent locally
already use an iPad or iPhone with square as their PoS.

They do this DESPITE the inconvenience of using the standard plug-in square
reader. DESPITE the technological know-how and inconvenience needed to hook up
a receipt printer (they will email receipt to you ONLY, some customers don't
like this, too bad).

Despite all those downsides, they do it cause Square's 2.9% is less than they
get charged from other processors; and a typical PoS system costs so much more
and is STILL crappy. They do it despite the other inconveniences.

So this is part of Square recognizing that they are in fact a hair's breadth
away from taking over the small business physical storefront PoS market too,
they just need to smooth down a few more edges.

~~~
bitbckt
They are "rounding the square," as Jack would put it.

------
smackfu
I'm a bit surprised they went for that cheesy white plastic look. That seems
like it would stand out in most retail stores. Stainless or black is much more
appropriate.

------
johnvschmitt
A stand? That's not what they need to go mass market.

When I show people the square dongle on my phone, the first thing most people
ask is... "OK, that's cool, but how can it accept cash"?

If their communication is not really simple & clear about how they can be a
"total" solution for a small business (which yes, must also take cash + CC's),
then they will not get to mass market. Having more hardware (which is far
harder to scale than software) will not be the best path.

That said, I'm still impressed with Square, as it's very hard to compete in a
non-level playing field with huge entrenched players (Visa/MC/AMEX + big POS
players), and the ecosystem needs successful upstarts to freshen the ecosystem
for consumers.

~~~
dublinben
Do people really ask how the Square can accept cash? You don't need a square
to accept cash.

~~~
RyJones
If you'd like to keep all your transactions tracked in one place, Square needs
to allow for non-credit transactions.

~~~
zackangelo
They do.

------
nraynaud
I don't really get it, are they only using the magnetic strip and not the chip
on the card?

~~~
kalleboo
They are U.S./Canada only. The European equivalent (which does take EMV chip-
and-pin) is iZettle <https://www.izettle.com>

~~~
itsybitsycoder
Chip & pin is very common in Canada, and for good reason:

[http://www.zimbio.com/Credit+Cards/articles/wqJ31IbmC13/New+...](http://www.zimbio.com/Credit+Cards/articles/wqJ31IbmC13/New+Chip+PIN+Deadline+March+31+2011)

(Visa & Mastercard are the biggest CC companies here. Hardly anyone has Amex,
and Interac is a debit card thing that Square doesn't support.)

~~~
kalleboo
Ah, I hadn't realized that Canada had gotten with the game. So it's only the
US alone which is lagging behind then, as usual :)

------
hop
How does it get power? Cord out through the bottom?

~~~
Icer5k
There's a power cable the plugs into the bottom of the unit -
[https://squareup.com/help/en-us/article/5114-square-stand-
se...](https://squareup.com/help/en-us/article/5114-square-stand-setup).

------
jamesbrennan
The swivel and the ability to bolt it to the counter appear to be very well
designed, but I would personally have a hard time dropping $300 on it after
buying an iPad for $400 - $500.

------
Kiro
So you swipe the card? I haven't seen a cash registry where you need to swipe
in ages. I understand the cost implications but it seems really ancient not to
use the chip.

~~~
function_seven
I'm assuming you're not in the US. Swiping here is still very much the
default. I've used the chip readers, but they appear on my statements with
less information than a swipe, so now I avoid them, they give me no additional
benefit

~~~
skeletonjelly
I fail to see how the chip provides less information for a transaction to
appear differently on a statement. Something is afoot.

~~~
function_seven
Yeah, I don't see any reason why is wouldn't, either. But on my statement, the
chip transactions I had didn't list the merchant name or category (this was
with AMEX), just some gobbledygook terminal number and a generic "Withdrawl".

It could be the way the merchant was set up, or maybe it's not done that way
anymore, but I still don't see the point at this time.

------
joosters
And where does it print the receipt? An emailed copy is not good enough, in
fact it's far more inconvenient.

~~~
jerryr
According to the site, "Quickly and easily connect a receipt printer, kitchen
printer, cash drawer, and barcode scanner. Get your hardware up and running in
minutes."

So, I'd assume you print the receipt to a receipt printer that you connect to
the stand.

~~~
joosters
So it is a $299 plastic ipad stand with about $5 worth of magstripe-reading
tech attached. My point is that this is being represented as a 'register
reinvented' when in fact you still have to add on all the things you listed
that make a register.

~~~
icelancer
Just making sure I'm seeing the same thing: A plastic stand with a long track
reader. I have no idea how this is worth the cost.

------
eightyone
I love how they integrated the Square logo into the design of the product.

------
xmmx
$4.61 for a scoop of ice cream? No me gusta...

~~~
shiftpgdn
Please keep your pointless zero content replies on reddit.

------
gerbil
Square should admit that their real purpose is to track the customer without
their direct permission and sell the data to the highest bidder.

Square is for morons who love Facebook profiling coz it's free.

~~~
csmattryder
You're new to Hacker News, but you're encouraged to 'show your working' here
along with your comment.

I welcome to see the data that Square is tracking purchases, and if it is, how
is this any different to XYZ Supermarket's loyalty program/card, and how are
they doing this without breaking any laws.

(Oh, and they've handled $15bn in transactions, sans Starbucks, I doubt they
need the moolah!)

~~~
gerbil
What do you mean by show I am working? Projects? Love to, how?

As for comparing Square to loyalty cards, I have to give actual consent to the
card issuer, with Square, they track me as a customer without permission or
consent just because the merchant has done a deal with them.

