It seems there’s a new report every day detailing what the Apple iPad can and will do for education and students. Now, the device appears to be ready to serve the college store as a new type of cash register.
According to reports, including this one from Information Week, the mobile payment startup firm Square has developed a free application that allows merchants to use an iPad to accept payments and receive sales analytics. The Square Register app works with Card Case, a consumer app available to both iPhone and Android users.
“Every single merchant that uses the Square Register has Google-style analytics for everything they do,” said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square and cofounder of Twitter. “They can easily answer the question: ‘How many cappuccinos did I sell today?”
The potential fly in the ointment is that both merchant and consumer must have the right software installed to operate properly, according to IDC analyst Aaron McPherson, who also suggested Square should integrate its system with a PC-based point-of-sale system.
