I disagree - I live/work smack in the middle of Manhattan and I'm not really seeing a Square dominance in coffee shops around me.
Yes, every coffee shop needs their cool iPad credit card processing machine, but anecdotally I'm seeing more non-Square ones than Square ones.
The choice here isn't between "usable iPad thing made by Square" vs. "crappy 90s POS terminal", it's "usable iPad thing made by Square" vs. "other usable iPad thing made not by Square".
I think a huge issue here is that merchants care about the bottom line, and it turns out Square does not have a lock on producing reasonable hardware/software around payment processing. Square may have invented the category but from where I stand they don't look like they own it.
Yes, every coffee shop needs their cool iPad credit card processing machine, but anecdotally I'm seeing more non-Square ones than Square ones.
The choice here isn't between "usable iPad thing made by Square" vs. "crappy 90s POS terminal", it's "usable iPad thing made by Square" vs. "other usable iPad thing made not by Square".
I think a huge issue here is that merchants care about the bottom line, and it turns out Square does not have a lock on producing reasonable hardware/software around payment processing. Square may have invented the category but from where I stand they don't look like they own it.