PointOfSale
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Groupon launches iPad-based restaurant point-of-sale system
Groupon is primarily known as a company that provides special deals to consumers via a free app, but they've now branched out into the restaurant point-of-sale (POS) system market with a new offering called Breadcrumb. Breadcrumb runs only on the Apple iPad, and client establishments pay US$99 a month to run the service on one iPad or $199 a month for two iPad kiosks. Larger restaurants get a discount, with the cost for five iPads at $299 per month and up to 10 iPads at $399 per month. Clients can either buy their own iPads or purchase iPads through Groupon at cost. Breadcrumb has been tested at about a hundred New York locations, but today the system launches across the US. Items such as cash drawers, receipt printers and the bane of chefs everywhere -- kitchen order printers -- can be added to the system easily. Unlike competing systems, there's no long-term commitment to use the system. The system literally takes only minutes to learn, it's easy to enter menu items and prices into Breadcrumb, and the system can be used by managers to dive into sales, food cost, labor cost information or get reports via email. With Breadcrumb, Groupon is not only going head-to-head with traditional restaurant POS providers such as OpenTable, Aloha and MICROS, but will compete with mobile payment leader Square with a much more restaurant-oriented offering. [via AppleInsider]
CyanogenMod releases SimplyTapp NFC payment app for CM9, launches CM9.1
If you decided to change your NFC Phone's OS over to CyanogenMod 9 to avoid all the skinning and restricting, now you have a mobile payment option called SimplyTapp. Produced by the modding group and two of its members, the app requires free or paid NFC cards from CyanogenMod or retailers like McDonald's and Whole Foods. Card user info is guarded in the cloud, which "allows separation of the card credential from the vulnerable handset," for increased security, according to CM and SimplyTapp. CyanogenMod also announced a new version of its ICS-based CM9 OS, version 9.1, which will fix bugs and add new devices. A stable release will be coming soon, but meanwhile, why not head over to Mickey D's and freak them out by paying with your modded Galaxy Nexus?
PayPal buys Card.io visual credit card scanner platform, is neither Here nor there
Thought PayPal was done upping its mobile payment game when it unveiled its triangular Square competitor earlier this year? Think again. Despite Here being, well, here, PayPal's not satisfied having but one way to scan your plastic, and so it's snapped up Card.io. In case you've forgotten, Card.io gathers credit card info visually using a smartphone's camera -- no scanning dongle required -- to save fingers and thumbs from having to enter payment info manually. Oh, and for folks fearing that PayPal would pull the plug on other apps' access to Card.io's SDK, not to worry -- PayPal assures us that Card.io's technology will remain available to developers.
New York restaurant adopts iPads, saves money
The next time you're at the Brooklyn (NY) Tap House choosing from the wide variety of beers on tap, don't be surprised if you see iPads at the bar or an iPod touch in the hands of your waitperson. The gastropub has installed a point-of-sale system from Albuquerque-based POSLavu that uses the Apple devices in place of a much more expensive traditional restaurant POS system. The main attraction for the POSLavu system, according to restauranteur and co-owner Hugo Salazar, was the price. Many restaurants use systems from Micros or Aloha that can sport price tags of US$20,000 or more; the bottom line for the devices and software at the Brooklyn Tap House was about $7,000. Salazar and partner Steve Escobar say the system has some advantages. The iPads tend to start conversations at the bar, and they can be used to check web sites to settle bar arguments. The order flow is much smoother, with orders taken wirelessly from the iPod touch devices in the hands of waitstaff and then printed in the kitchen. Inventory is updated immediately, and the owners can check sales and more from literally anywhere in the world. On the negative side, customers often think that waitstaff are texting friends instead of taking their orders. The staff has broken iPods (one wonders if the Tap House has ever heard of LifeProof or OtterBox cases...), and connectivity to the local Wi-Fi network for sending orders has been an issue. Still, the owners are happy with both the POSLavu system and the Apple technology, with waitstaff often pointing out to customers that they're using an Apple-based system.
99Bill smartphone card reader pushes mobile payments for China, pretends it's never heard of Square
Jostling for attention among a crowd of China-focused smartphone card readers, 99Bill's card reader has now been officially revealed. It plugs into your headphone jack and communicates with apps on both iOS and Android. The familiar-looking reader supports both passcode and signature security -- China matches several European countries where passcode cards are the more common option. The company has already hooked up with three insurance companies, but it's keeping quiet on the rates it'll charge per transaction and any further expansion plans. 99Bills lays down why it should be your go-to choice for smartphone payments in mainland China right after the break.
Square gets a few more Chinese clones, Jack Dorsey may or may not be flattered
Never mind what PayPal has just unveiled today -- look at these mobile phone credit card readers from China instead. If you ask Square CEO Jack Dorsey, we're sure he'll have to a thing or two to say about these familiar-looking dongles (and not to mention the various weibo microblogging services that were inspired by Jack's Twitter platform). Coincidentally, all three of these pictures above showed up on Sina Weibo earlier today, albeit from different accounts with very little detail in each post -- we'd like to think they're trying to make a point one after the other. So who's behind these little plastic bricks from the Far East?Starting from the left (courtesy of Xiaomi Vice President Li Wanqiang) we have Lakala, a well-known Chinese payment service provider whose POS terminals are featured in major supermarkets and convenience stores. We spoke to the company's CEO Sun Taoran who assured us that this is a booming business in China, as credit cards are more popular than you'd expect these days (most large eateries, supermarkets and even karaoke bars in domestic cities will happily accept them); and of course, he'd certainly want a slice of that massive smartphone pie over there. The Beijing-based company also said its dongle will function even without a phone client installed, but it wouldn't further elaborate at this point. Expect to see Lakala's product launch in May.
Square's new Register app turns the iPad into a full-on point of sale terminal
Square continues to add functionality to its mobile payment platform, and the latest addition is its new Register app for iPad. The refresh brings a sleeker interface and greater Card Case integration along with analytics to break down sales by transaction type and chronology to track your business' performance. Additionally, you can set up custom permissions to limit employee access, create customer loyalty programs and there's an improved inventory system feature as well. Naturally, it still relies on Square's trusty card reader for swiping cards and charges 2.75 percent per transaction using Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express. Small businessmen, your payment chariot awaits, so check out a video of the new Square Register in action after the break.
Isis partners with VeriFone, Ingenico, ViVOtech and Equinox, prepares to take over the world
So, you've got the carriers on board, and the banks and even the handset makers. Problem is, without compatible registers and point of sale terminals, your mobile payment tech is worthless. Thankfully Isis, the NFC wallet system that aims to crush Google's buzzed-about platform, just scored a host of partners including VeriFone and Equinox that make a pretty large chunk of world's payment terminals. Those companies, along with Ingenico and ViVOtech have agreed to support Isis on future hardware and, in some cases, update the software on machines in the field to communicate with the app. For a few more details hit up the PR after the break and prepare for the Isis invasion to kick off sometime towards the middle of the year.
Amazon, 7-Eleven team up to bring delivery convenience to your corner store
Allow us to set the scene: It's late Friday night. You've just finished working and decide to hit up the local 7-Eleven on your way home for a Slim Jim, Mountain Brew and... your Amazon package? Why, yes, as absurd as it seems there could very well be a P.O. Box-like locker in your nearby Kwik-E Mart's future. The whispering winds of hearsay flew by the ears over at The Daily and delivered this little nugget of Bezos-backed possibility. According to the source, a Seattle chain already has one of the prototypes in its possession, with a nationwide rollout potentially headed for next summer. So, how's it work? Apparently, you'll be offered a choice of 7-Eleven delivery locations during the online checkout process, after which an emailed bar code can be scanned by the locker to reveal a pin that gets you access to your Amazon stash. Alright, it's an undoubtedly convenient idea, but how's about they also throw in some of those Android-based tablets? Now that's point-of-sale.
Big US retailers adopting Apple products: Say goodbye to the cash register
Earlier today TUAW reported on how one New York City restaurant has adopted the iPad as a menu and point of sale system replacement. Now All Things D is reporting that Apple products -- predominantly the iPad -- are being purchased in droves by major retailers across the country. Home improvement chain Lowes is reportedly deploying 42,000 handheld devices to stores in the U.S. and Canada. Other major deployments have been announced by rival Home Depot, Nordstrom, and Urban Outfitters. As noted by All Things D's Tricia Duryee, some of the retailers haven't spilled the beans on what devices they're actually fielding, but it's anticipated that they'll be Apple devices -- iPhones, iPads, or iPod touches. While the devices can be easily set up to accept payments, many of the retailers are initially using the devices for customer service use cases: looking up answers to customer questions or checking availability of products. Pacific Sunwear, AKA PacSun, will be rolling out iPads in 300 of its stores, and plans to increase the distribution of the tablets to up to 600 more locations by next year. PacSun is using an application by developer Global Bay to assist customers in ordering items that are out of stock in the stores. Global Bay CEO Sandeep Bhanote mentioned that one retailer it helped has seen a 12 percent increase in average order transaction when customers receive service from associates carrying in-store Apple devices. For PacSun, the iPads are anticipated to let store associates close five more transactions a day -- and that's more than enough to cover the cost of the equipment and software. How about you, TUAW readers? Other than at Apple Store retail locations, have you started seeing a lot of Apple products at your favorite retailer? Let us know in the comments.
Daily Update for August 23, 2011
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top stories of the day in three to five minutes, which is perfect for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
NYC restaurant completely reliant on iPad
When you go to De Santos, a high-end Italian restaurant in New York City's West Village, don't expect to be handed a regular menu. Instead, your waiter will bring you an iPad 2 on which you can select your meal. Inc.com reported on this innovative restaurant that is using iPad 2s, a custom app, and the Square card reader to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction. As of August 1st, De Santos -- located in a building that was once home to such music and literary geniuses as Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, and Edward Albee -- became the first restaurant in the Big Apple to be run completely on iPads. Not only can you order your food and drink on the iPad, but at the end of the meal you'll swipe your credit card on the device to settle your tab (De Santos uses Square to accept your charges). You might think that US$500 menus are ridiculously expensive, but the owners say that the system will save money by streamlining food ordering. The iPads send orders directly to the kitchen over Wi-Fi, and customers can see the full "specs" of every dish on the menu. The system uses a custom point of sale system created for the 8 iPads in the restaurant, and the development and installation costs were about $18,000. That compares very favorably to traditional restaurant point of sale systems that normally cost a minimum of about $30,000 to install. Since every transaction is entered into the system in real time, the owners of De Santos can monitor the restaurant remotely from an iPhone to view data about how sales are going. They can see how many orders are placed for what items, how many credit cards are used, and more. Co-owner Sebastian Gonella says that "You really have control over what happens in the dining room," which reduces costs for the restaurant. The key feature might be the iPads themselves. Sebastian Gonella noted that "The customers love it. Who doesn't like an iPad? They go nuts." Once word gets out about how well the iPad-based system is working, we're sure to see more restaurants adopt the devices.
ERPLY's mobile credit card reader handles NFC payments on an iPad, obliterates the check-out line
It may look like nothing more than a glorified chip clip, but that dongle at the bottom of this guy's iPad is actually ERPLY's new credit card reader -- the latest addition to a growing field of NFC and mobile payment devices designed for small and large businesses. Once attached to an iPad's charging port, the peripheral will send a user's encrypted credit card information to ERPLY's point-of-sale and inventory management software, allowing customers to purchase products on the store room floor and giving retailers the ability to monitor transactions and stock flows in real time. Available for $50 (with a transaction fee of 1.9 percent), the reader is also equipped to handle both NFC and traditional card payments and, after processing a purchase, will automatically send a receipt to consumers via text or e-mail. At the moment, it's only available for the iPad, though iPhone users should be able to get their own version within the next three months. Swipe past the break for more information, in the full press release.
Netswipe turns your webcam into a credit card reader, brings POS payments to the desktop
Credit card fraud costs the banking industry billions of dollars every year, and with companies yet to find an entirely secure system for processing payments online, there's no end in sight for unauthorized transactions. Jumio hopes to bring both security and convenience to the world of online payments, however, with its webcam-based Netswipe secure card reader solution. The system replicates the point of sale (POS) transactions you experience when making in-store purchases, prompting cardholders to scan the front on their credit card, then enter their CVV code using a tamperproof mouse-controlled interface. We're not sure how the software is able to distinguish a physical credit card from, say, a photocopy of a card, but it certainly sounds more secure than the standard input form we use today. It also reduces card number theft from insecure forms and website spoofing, by verifying details through a live video stream. Jump past the break for the full press release, along with video overviews of Netswipe and Jumio, which recently secured $6.5 million in initial funding and is backed by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.
Card.io SDK takes swipe at competition with camera-enabled mobile payments (video)
In an attempt to edge its way into the crowded mobile payments market, a new credit card scanning system is saying "ah, hell no!" to typing and swiping. Card.io is billed as an SDK that takes advantage of smartphone cameras to let devs accept credit, because, as its creators point out, "typing on mobile phones is slow, and most consumers don't have a separate hardware attachment." When it's time to pull out the plastic, Card.io gets your phone's camera going, and up pops a little green rectangle, in which you frame your card and snap a pic. Your credit card info is then processed by a third-party merchant, and the details are subsequently deleted from your phone. Can you hear that? That's the sound of our chubby thumbs breathing a sigh of relief. The Card.io SDK for iOS is now available at the source link below, and an Android version should be close behind. For now, hop on past the break for a video demo.
NetSecure Kudos Payments announced for Canada, is the half-circle to Square
Canada may be moving to polymer-based currency, but mobile payment services like Square -- which cater to classic plastic -- haven't yet taken time to trek to the Great White North. NetSecure is looking to offer similar convenience to the region with its new Kudos Payments service, which just so happens to ship with a shockingly curvy swiping dongle. Similar to Square, it creates a secure 'point of sale' without a hard-wired transaction terminal, and charges a slightly higher 2.9-percent fee to users' accounts for each exchange. Kudos has iOS, Android, and Blackberry apps to tap into the functionality and, even a version for Mac and PC -- in other words, you and yours should be suitably covered. Any roving entrepreneurs who are interested in the service will be able to snag the $49.99 kit free of charge from the company's website for a "limited time," which may or may not expire before Google decides to open its own Wallet a few miles kilometers north.
Google gets creative, names new NFC payment system Google Wallet? (Updated)
Yesterday, anonymous sources said that El Goog and Sprint would debut a new NFC payment system on May 26th -- otherwise known as tomorrow. Today, a leak allegedly from The Container Store appears to have spilled the beans on the moniker for Mountain View's mobile money method: Google Wallet. Not the most creative cognomen, but at least it sums up the service succinctly. Still, it's no Ice Cream Sandwich, but we'll find out how it tastes live at tomorrow's event. Update: Eagle-eyed reader Steve pointed out that looking up the WHOIS info for googlewallet.com does indeed lead you to Mountain View, though this was created way back in 2005. You may recall that Google Checkout was initially known as Google Wallet, as reminded by InformationWeek, but we just noticed that the URL is now plain dead instead of taking us to a Google error page, as it did minutes ago. Very intriguing.
Google and Sprint team up to take your digital dollars with new NFC payment system? (updated)
There's been rumors of a Google-fied mobile payment system for some time, and now it looks like the Mountain View crew is teaming up with Sprint to finally make it happen. Last month, we heard that the Now Network would bring NFC payments to its customers this year, and Bloomberg reports that the partnership and payment system will make its debut on May 26th. Apparently, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C. are the first cities getting the service, which is a much broader initial footprint than its Isis mobile payment competition. The anonymous sources also say that Verifone and Vivotech are providing the hardware and software that will let you replace your credit card with a Nexus S -- because you always wanted to replace your credit card with your Nexus S. Update: According to All things D, the payment system will be put through its paces by none other than El Goog's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt at the D9: All Things Digital conference next week -- where we'll be on hand to peep the contactless payment presentation in person.
Square Register and Card Case hands-on
It looks like Square's little headphone jack-connected credit card reader has some company. The mobile payment startup introduced two new additions to its unique stable of payment options in San Francisco this morning that do away with credit cards, paper receipts, and even the bantam reader itself (to some degree). First up is the Square Register, an app that allows merchants to accept payments by way of the card reader or through a card-less (no, it's not NFC) tab -- like, "put it on my tab" -- system, and uses Google-style analytics to keep track of payments, receipts, and trends. The second announcement, the Square Card Case, is a virtual wallet that holds a series of "cards," each relating to a participating outlet, that let you put your purchases on the aforementioned tab. Each shop has its own virtual credit card, and enables shoppers to make and track purchases with a single click of a button. We got a chance to give the setup a try, and it's just about as simple as Square would have you believe. To get started, you make a regular, Square-enabled purchase at a participating store, at which point a text-message receipt is sent to your phone that prompts you to install Card Case -- we skipped this step, as this was just a demo. Once set up, we were introduced to the Card Case, holding cards for the participating stores -- only 50 spots in five cities, for now -- and an "Explore Places" button that offers access to a directory of participating outlets. We selected a nearby cupcake stand, clicked "open tab" and picked our poison: a miniature red velvet cupcake, in this case. The merchant picked our name from a list of open tabs, charged the tiny treat to our card, and a receipt was promptly pushed our way. After the transaction was complete, we went back to the cupcake card in the Card Case, and there was the receipt. All in all it was a painless process, but, then, so is whipping out a real wallet to make a purchase. The new Square setup is available now at 50 different establishments in New York, LA, Saint Louis, San Francisco, and DC, and the company says it will curate the list of participating stores, much like Apple does apps.
Orange and Barclaycard launch 'Quick Tap' NFC mobile payments in the UK
Yay for the UK, it's now one step closer to catching up to the Japan of last decade. Mobile carrier Orange is today launching the UK's first mobile phone contactless payment service, dubbed Quick Tap, for purchases up to £15. It works on MasterCard's PayPass system and requires you to have a Barclays debit or credit card or, alternatively, a credit card from Orange itself. Gemalto is providing the SIM-based NFC compatibility, with Samsung's entirely unrevolutionary Tocco Lite being the (admittedly affordable) launch handset. Then you just need to trust the Quick Pay app to be as secure as promised and you'll be ready to go off and use your phone as a payment terminal at over 50,000 locations, including joints run by McDonald's, Eat, Pret A Manger, Subway, and Wilkinson. A quick intro video and a more expansive press release follow after the break.
