Square, the mobile payment company, has introduced an iPad app that turns the tablet into a cash register.
As the very Apple-like video above explains, the Square Register app plus Square's quarter-sized reader lets you process payments via cash, credit card and even by customer name. The app also lets you add items easily and create a favorites page for popular products. Other perks include detailed real-time analytics, which you can access via the web.
Square, which was founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has had an iOS and Android app in the market for processing credit cards, but the new app positions the company more as an all-in-one solution for small businesses.
Launched publicly in 2010, Square claimed its 1 millionth vendor in December. While the company doesn't outline what types of businesses are using it most, anecdotally, it seems to have carved a niche among formerly low-tech trades such as food trucks, farmer’s markets, dog walkers and Christmas tree vendors, as well as at PTA fundraisers. Such businesses have taken to the iPad. A survey released Monday by The Business Journals found that 34% of small to medium-sized businesses use the device, up from 9% in 2010. (Square isn't planning an app for Android-based tablets.)
The company has been looking to broaden beyond that base. One possible way is via New York taxis: This month, the company is pitching a proposal that would replaces Taxi TVs in 50 cabs with an embedded iPad or other tablet PC.