They do this DESPITE the inconvenience of using the standard plug-in square reader. DESPITE the technological know-how and inconvenience needed to hook up a receipt printer (they will email receipt to you ONLY, some customers don't like this, too bad).
Despite all those downsides, they do it cause Square's 2.9% is less than they get charged from other processors; and a typical PoS system costs so much more and is STILL crappy. They do it despite the other inconveniences.
So this is part of Square recognizing that they are in fact a hair's breadth away from taking over the small business physical storefront PoS market too, they just need to smooth down a few more edges.
One thing though: while e-mailing myself receipts for business dinners is a nice-to-have feature, I am curious to know more about the privacy implications (probably wouldn't take but a moment to find out).
https://squareup.com/legal/privacy
https://squareup.com/legal/seller-agreement
The Stand appears to be an entry in the niche of minimal POS (Point-of-Sale) setups, perhaps as an answer to an upgrade desire: "I like Square, but I need something more like a cash register."
It does seem to solve a security issue by tethering the iPad to the counter, which anyone whose phone has been stolen can readily appreciate.
I am surprised that the signature process is not done by tilting the device toward the customer and letting the screen display rotate. Perhaps Square is aiming more toward upscale retailers with great expanses of customer-facing counter space (who would also be more likely to pay the 2.75% transaction fee.) Perhaps the choice of white hardware is based on the same approach.
Square = tracking/profiling of customers without their direct permission = scam-artists. Jack, please reply.
However, a $300 kiosk is probably out of the realm of possibility for many one-man operations. At the same time, the business demographic to which they are appealing with this (larger established businesses that need a physically-integrated register solution) is already competed over by a plethora of companies.
The whole point of Square was to occupy the niche of hyper-small operations and forsake the market for large businesses. Not only are they competing with the established companies like Verafone, but also with the dozen or so other companies that target larger businesses with iPad register solutions. I'm not sure if they will be able to compete.
That's not to say that this will be unsuccessful. Obviously, Square has had some success in penetrating the large-business market. I don't know. Maybe Starbucks will buy 10,000 of them or something. It just seems like a more volatile and crowded market...