Square introduces Card Case, Register
Square is continuing to expand their business with two new apps; Card Case and Register. Card Case is sort of a virtual wallet where you set up a tab at a supported business, order something, and leave. The merchant charges your Square tab, payment is done, and you can access the receipt in the app. So far only a few dozen businesses are supported, all of them in the US (like everything Square), but seeing how successful Square has been I’m sure this will quickly expand.
Register is an app for the other end of the transaction; the merchant. Basically, it’s an app that allows you to use an iPad as a cash register, with features such as image import to represent products. Customers can pay with cash or credit card using the Square reader, and the merchant will be able to access detailed statistics on what’s being sold etc.What’s brilliant is that you have a touch screen cash register system that is (presumably) easy to use, all for $500 (the price of an iPad)
Put these two together and you have the following scenario: You walk into you local coffee shop and order a coffee to go. The guy behind the register enters that into the iPad, charges your tab, and gives you your coffee. Payment happens automatically between the merchant and your Card Case account, the receipt is sent to you automatically and you leave the shop without ever having touched real money or a credit card. Pretty damn neat, don’t you think?
