iPad Using Square As Point of Sale at Sightglass Coffee in San Francisco

An iPad in Action in San Francisco

April 5, 2010

Not only was Saturday a big day for the iPad, it was a big day for at least one retailer, too. San Francisco-based Sightglass Coffee has been accepting credit cards via Square, the mobile payment app started by Twitter alum Jack Dorsey. Now, they're using Square on the iPad to accept credit cards for purchases, and even managed to build one of the most amazing iPad stands I've ever seen. It swivels to allow the customer to swipe their own card and sign the touch screen, then back again for the employee to finish the transaction.

I can't wait to see how many other companies will start to implement this payment strategy. While Square users do still have to pay around 3% to verify a user's card (similar to any retailer accepting credit cards), there are relatively few startup costs relative to costs incurred by retailers using traditional systems. Besides, how beautiful does this setup look? If you're in San Francisco, be sure to drop by and take a look — the coffee is delicious!

iPad iPad Launch

7 Comments

3 years

While this is cool, an actual credit card terminal costs less than an iPad and they have swivel stands for them. I'd hate to have my iPad tied up doing this when I could be playing Angry Birds all day, or reading, or...well, you know, other cool stuff. I do think it's obviously a good publicity move here, just dedicated terminals are cheaper for this use. Hope I'm not being a wet blanket..I think Apple stuff is really cool.

kcwebgirl 3 years

nice.

pinkmystic 3 years

Reminds me of the Microsoft table... I think it's interesting that this restaurant is using this... i just don't see the problem with a regular cash register.. :) LOL