[refulgentis]

I am the cofounder of a startup that builds an iOS/iPod/iPad POS Ambur, and it's absolutely astonishing to me to see people claim Square is doing anything useful for merchants.

Their software is far too simplistic for anyone running more than a very basic coffee shop with tech savvy customers to use. Even something as simple as most customers demand paper receipts, and Square's functionality is taking basic orders, one a time, with no conception of any business analysis functions. That does not cut it for any business bigger than a small coffee or retail shop, where customers pay and are served instantaneously. no matter how cheap Square is, or how many brilliant designers they hire, they're not going to get into businesses bigger than this without expanding what they're doing.

They really, really, need to launch a platform for people like us to innovate on. We're young, forward-thinking, and as an ex-restaurant employee I know how much CC companies and traditional POS companies screw businesses. 

We're trying to change that on the POS side, and I desperately wish Square would be less egotistical and let us use them to change the payment side. It would be tremendous for them, because it lets POS companies solve adoption for them, instead of them trying to engineer 1000 solutions for 1000 different types of business, and let's them focus on their core compotency - beautifully designed software for consumers.

[huhtenberg]

Wouldn't adding a "Print receipt" button on a merchant's device solve the "cusomters demand receipts" concern?

And they are building a platform. They will likely to open it up sooner rather than later too, they just can't take on CC companies alone.

[refulgentis]

Nope, unless you want to integrate with a receipt printer manufacturer, and now all of a sudden you're beholden to that - there's many technical issues because now you need a preferred router manufacturer too, so the iPad can talk to the printer.

Sure, I've been hearing forever that they must be going to, eventually, etc etc. hasn't panned out and it's been literally years

[mseebach]

Doesn't the Square solution work like a common separate-hardware credit card terminal? You run the flow on your regular POS system, including any receipt printing, and then just use Square at the very end to handle the payment?

[refulgentis]

No, at least not on the iPad, and even if it did most businesses would see that as pretty backwards. every second counts, in restaurants especially, and essentially maintaining two sets of books always leads to trouble.

[vidarh]

Have you talked to them? If so, what was their response?

[refulgentis]

I asked them several times through email, no response.