

Square Debuts its Latest Hardware, a $299 Card Swiper for iPad Registers - wlue
http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/14/square-debuts-its-latest-hardware-stand-a-299-card-swiper-for-ipad-registers/

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joezydeco
So what happens with signatures? I recently visited a cafe where they were
using an iPad as a checkout, and the cashier had to constantly swivel the
thing around to let customers sign for their purchase.

I know it's not that big an inconvenience, but it just seemed like an awkward
conclusion to a transaction that's supposed to be simplified by these devices.

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MrDOS
In Canada, virtually all credit card transactions now take place via chip
insertion, not swiping, and chip transactions require PIN entry, not signing.
Unless they get an external numpad to handle such things, this is going to be
a security nightmare.

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jguimont
In Canada, most in store transaction are using Interac and not credit cards. I
wonder when Square will accept both. I guess europeen countries have something
similar to Interac as well (french's blue card?).

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mrweasel
I'm not really sure what Interac is, but a large number of European credit
cards aren't credit cards, they are debit cards, issued by your bank. The
cards are co-branded VISA or MasterCard. Some countries have they own national
cards, Denmark has Dankort, the Netherlands have they own, Finland is dropping
theirs I think, and I'm sure there's more.

The point is that the European rules for credit cards is EVERY different from
the US. Signatures are no longer valid, you need the PIN and a lot of ATM and
terminals will only read the chip. New terminals without chip read won't get
approved.

Launching a swipe terminal is catering to a dying marked.

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MrDOS
Interac is actually the name of a payment services company (they license and
operate point-of-sale plastic-handling machines), but the name is most
commonly associated with the Canadian variety of debit cards. As in Europe,
the cards are issued by the bank, but they're not generally cobranded with any
credit card company and payments made with them draw funding directly from
your chequing account.

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meerita
Here in Barcelona we're using wireless for paying. Each card has a chip you
just get your card close to the read and bam, you payed the bill. It's nice
and confortable.

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mattermill
That sounds sketchy as hell.

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dangrossman
Why? If you had those cards, or a smartphone with NFC and Google Wallet
installed, you could do the same thing in the US. Just look for the MasterCard
PayPass logo on the top of the terminal you are swiping your card in today.

I've seen it at CVS, RiteAid, McDonalds, Wawa, ShopRite, Home Depot...

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andrus
We have vending machines with these at my university. I often start swiping my
card only to realize I've accidentally "tapped to pay" (according to the
reader).

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deweller
Is there any chance that Square (or any of its competitors) will open up their
service to custom app developers?

I want to build a custom application that uses their hardware and payment
processing back end. But I can't.

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avelis
I see no evidence that Square would make one although they could. Until they
achieve a huge market percentage they are still in growth mode. That requires
brand trust first.

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fudged71
Are there any wires needed to hook into receipt printers, cash boxes, etc?

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dangrossman
The receipt printer is a network printer; it needs an ethernet cable. The iPad
connects to the printer over wifi. The receipt printer is connected to the
cash drawer by, essentially, a telephone cable. The printer tells the drawer
to open through that line; the iPad does not directly communicate with the
cash drawer.

Unfortunately I paid $499 for this stuff from Square just last month, and I'm
not going to spend $299 more to upgrade to a fancier stand.

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puls
The Square Stand actually includes a USB hub to plug the printer, cash drawer,
and barcode scanner in via USB. It's much simpler than setting up everything
to talk on the network.

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ricardobeat
Do printers/drawers/scanners come with an USB interface?

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royalpineapple
Absolutely, Here is a list of USB hardware compatible with the Square Stand.

[https://squareup.com/help/en-us/article/5125-square-stand-
su...](https://squareup.com/help/en-us/article/5125-square-stand-supported-
hardware)

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potatolicious
This is great. Their hardware has always been one of the weak points in the
experience - people hate swiping on the wobbly headphone-jack doohickeys.
Having something much more solid would help.

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austenallred
Honestly I'm a little surprised it took this long. Seems like a no-brainer for
the company.

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nighthawk24
But does it accept Bitcoin?

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mbetter
> Accepted payment methods: Bitcoin, pogs, that Billy Ripken baseball card
> with an expletive on the bat, good intentions.

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unethical_ban
And firearms/firearm accessories stores around the world shrugged.

