Square launches iPad-driven 'Business in a Box' hardware for $299

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 36
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member


    deleted

  • Reply 22 of 36


    It sounded good to me (but then I saw the printer was extra [and $300 for a little feed printer?])


    Seems like there must be a better solution for cheaper. Where I see an iPad solution being very attractive is for someone selling from a kiosk, at an art fair, from their vehicle, or from a small home business (artist, consultant, craftsman, etc.) Seems like just the square, a wallet, an iPhone/iPad, and possibly a printer (plus software) is all you need.


    Where's a version of what Apple uses in their stores?

  • Reply 23 of 36
    65c81665c816 Posts: 136member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by KDarling View Post


    $300 for the drawer / stand / Square


    $400 for the IPad 


    $300 for a printer 


    ===============


    $1,000


     


    As opposed to other systems that network and cost much more.


     


    Or cost less and include more. E.g.


     



     


    I don't know if the Square swipe fee is reasonable, but I suspect that can be had for less, too.



    And running antivirus, and getting malware and registry corruption and any number of Windows issues.  Yay!

  • Reply 24 of 36
    misamisa Posts: 827member
    evilution wrote: »
    If only Square would pull their finger out and release over in Europe/UK.
    However, Visa have locked everything down as we use PIN codes and not signatures so they demand different technology, not just a card swiper.

    Same with Canada.

    The only reason the Square device works is because it uses the magstripe. All other countries have told their merchants to use the contactless chip or the chip+pin method and charge more for swiping, and even more for manual entry.


    The problem lies in the security of the device that enters the PIN. If you go to the Apple store here, they have a huge honking pin-pad attached to the rear of their iDevices to support the chip+pin. Why can't we buy these things?
  • Reply 25 of 36


    you do realise this is only the hardware and doesn't actually include any software, backup, cloud storage, credit card processing, bank integration... etc. etc. expect to spend at least another $5,000 before you even come close to what the entire Square package is. And even then you have a clunky solution with no real support if the hardware breaks.

  • Reply 26 of 36
    bcodebcode Posts: 141member
    Give me table-numbers and customer-tabs and I'm fully and totally sold.
  • Reply 27 of 36
    kdarlingkdarling Posts: 1,640member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by 65C816 View Post


    And running antivirus, and getting malware and registry corruption and any number of Windows issues.  Yay!



     


    POS systems aren't usually used to surf the web.   But if it's a worry, pick a POS system that doesn't run Windows.  <shrug>  Perhaps there's a MacOS or Linux setup like that one.


     


    Simply put, someone asked if the Square setup was price competitive with regular POS hardware.  To assist, I found and posted the first example I ran across.   Feel free to help out by finding others to compare with.


     


    Quote:



    Originally Posted by addicted44 View Post



    And can you carry this to different parts of the store to charge up people not necessarily at the register itself? 


     


    I think you're confusing this solution with carry around versions.


     


    The whole point of buying this Square setup with the Windfall case is that the iPad is secured down in one spot with tamper proof screws.

  • Reply 28 of 36


    This is cool. I almost want to open up a coffee shop just to use this.

  • Reply 29 of 36
    Cool solution! But how would this work for a business larger than a 1 person micro business. What about backend office stuff like accounting? Is the analytics collected compatible with accounting software? Do I need a computer? Also, an obvious flaw, is that customer can't see the total displayed. Turning the ipad around every transaction isn't convenient.

    Even for a micro business the card fees are too much. With the weak economy, I've seen stores accept only cash.
  • Reply 30 of 36


    http://www.shopkeep.com


     


    Complete iPad POS system. It might even allow you to tie into Square, but I'm not sure. They claim to support many merchants for credit cards, or they can help you sign up for one. 


     


    You can buy the complete setup through them, including an iPad 2 16GB for a total of $1,155. It even allows you to setup a "kitchen" printer to easily submit food orders to the cook(s). 


     


    I saw a business using this setup, but on a MacBook Pro. He said they (ShopKeep) were switching everything to iPad, so it looks like he was right. 

  • Reply 31 of 36
    If the business was successful at all, then that "swipe" thingy would break fairly quickly IMO.
  • Reply 32 of 36
    stelligent wrote: »
    This is cool. I almost want to open up a coffee shop just to use this.

    In Amsterdam?
  • Reply 33 of 36
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    You can get an unconnected traditional cash register from Costco pretty cheap:  http://www.costco.com/CatalogSearch?storeId=10301&catalogId=10701&langId=-1&keyword=cash+register

    But the Square system you can play Angry Birds while waiting for a customer. :D

    ick. If the Square system is up for a given register task, I'd try to use Square first. Unless you're trying to make your business look like it's stuck in the 80's. There are POS systems based on notebooks or AIOs, something worth looking into.

    crhain88 wrote: »
    Must be a slow day for news. I feel like this is more of a backpage story. Why do we care about 3rd party apps?

    I think it's a bit more than an app though. It's kind of like saying the story about the iPad's use in medical imaging is just a story about 3rd party apps. AI does do occasional stories on business applications of iOS devices.

    desuserign wrote: »
    It sounded good to me (but then I saw the printer was extra [and $300 for a little feed printer?])

    They do list the part numbers of each item in the package. Maybe you can save a Franklin by doing that. If I needed a wireless commercial grade thermal printer, I wouldn't bat an eye at $300, but that model is listed on Amazon for $205. It's lifetime operational cost is probably far cheaper than an inkjet and takes much less space than other printer types. A Zebra label printer is on my wish list. The Zebras cost even more and doesn't have a wireless option that I've seen.
  • Reply 34 of 36

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh View Post



    I really hope someone comes up with a full business in a box-- integrate a NAS with wifi and VPN, and modular apps for things like inventory, services, payroll... that isn't an over-priced cloud solution. One-man consulting/service businesses are a great target, but many other small businesses make sense too.



    This could work really well for kiosk operators.


     


    Most one man/kiosk type places don't need that much tech. An app or two on the iPad is about all they would have to worry about.

  • Reply 35 of 36

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Brian Jojade View Post


    It's worse than that.  The $275 fee is ONLY for transactions under $400, and ONLY up to $21,000 per month. If you use exactly up to the limit, that puts your processing at 1.3%, which is right in line with what a traditional processing company would charge.



     


    Don't a lot, if not all, of those traditional processing companies charge an account setup and/or maintenance fee that can run into several thousands of dollars a year. How would those fees factor into the game

  • Reply 36 of 36
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    charlituna wrote: »
    Don't a lot, if not all, of those traditional processing companies charge an account setup and/or maintenance fee that can run into several thousands of dollars a year. How would those fees factor into the game

    Square's fee is clearly at lower rates than I'm being charged by First Data. But it's hard to correlate because I do a lot of international business.

    I've only used Square for one weekend, but I was happy with it. The old style handheld terminal was clearly unrealistic for a small handful of shows. I think it was a thousand dollars, then it had to have a monthly cellular account.
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