Honest question: does Square save money if credit card fraud decreases? It would make most sense that the parties who lose money when fraud occurs would offer these devices for free, or subsidize them, and I'm unsure of whether Square is one of these parties.
That's what they currently do with the magstripe readers. You then get a credit for the amount of the reader (limit 1 per account I believe). That makes it easier to avoid losing a ton of money when someone figures out another use for them.
Even today the language is to "order" a card reader, but there's no charge. So don't read into the phrase "pre-order" here. They used the same language when they started.