Square Inc. and Apple Inc. teamed up afresh for a new POS merchandise joint venture. On July 9, 2013, Square issued the Square Stand, a POS device conceived to endow brick-and-mortar enterprises to use an iPad as a free-standing, over-the-counter, card-swipe sales system. Apple agreed to showcase and deal the merchandise in Apple shops over the United States. It is one of two companies designated as prime consumer retail outlets; the other is Best Buy Inc. The device can furthermore be bought through Square at https://squareup.com/stand.
The placement pursues a successful pairing by Square and Apple in 2010, when Apple was granted privileges to circulate the Square list app, which allows persons and merchants in the joined States and Canada to method card-based transactions on Apple iOS or Android smartphones or tablet apparatus. The app carries manually entered transactions or cards swiped via the 1-inch Square card reader.
A front sprinter in the mobile commerce wave, rectangle issued the list merchandise and free book reader device at a time when couple of other smartphone swipe apparatus were accessible. Square’s simple POS scheme and straightforward transaction fee model caught on rapidly with micro-business proprietors over North America.
Shortly after Square’s initial launch, the demand for stand-alone, over-the-counter tablet solutions began to enlarge within the little to midsize retail business (SMB) part. In answer, several third-party stand devices were introduced into the retail market, giving merchants the proficiency to mount a POS endowed tablet more permanently on the sales counter to conceive a more customary money register-like system.
Square takes stand in SMB market: Taking the concept a step farther, Square created a device that blends the functionality of its reader device into a tablet stand that serves as a fully integrated cash list answer. The scheme values a built-in card reader in the front of the stand unit and furthermore connects to third-party accessories, such as a receipt copier, money drawer and bar cipher scanner.
The rectangle Stand methods card-based transactions, using the identical rectangle list app the rectangle wireless business card reader values, as well as rectangle Wallet wireless transactions. The rectangle Stand is actually only matching with an iPad 2 or 3, but a more diversified tablet type is anticipated to be issued subsequent in 2013.
The freshly issued rectangle Stand product and the proceeded partnership between Apple and Square are influencing the POS revolution happening worldwide. According to Todd Ablowitz, President of the payments commerce consultancy Double precious gem assembly, the introduction of rectangle Stand is “yet another demonstration of how they are moving up market from micro-merchants to little and medium-sized enterprises by proposing an affordable, simple and characteristic rich cloud-based POS scheme. This is a natural evolution for a disruptive expertise contestant like Square, and it impersonates challenges for acquirers because little and medium-sized merchants are the sweet spot of profitability for acquirers.”
Ablowitz added a couple of phrases of wisdom for ISOs and acquirers who are, “still lugging round terminals and selling merchants on rate.” He proposed they “start looking for a new job.” As commerce professionals have asserted before, it is the better knowledge and service ISOs and merchant level salespeople can bring to merchants that will extend to set them apart.