I’m upset that KDS is moving to Android exclusively and am concerned that this is a direction Square is heading.
The primary reason I chose— and invested in— Square was because of their iOS integration. Superior reliable devices, readily available everywhere, on an operating system I trust and any employee can manage. All our iPads do double or triple duty running other apps that our business relies on. And all from a single AppleID using excellent deployment software (Apple Configurator) and benefiting from excellent support from Apple both at purchase and with repairs. None of this is to mention a general distrust of Google.
And as such, my multi-unit company has dozens of iPads that we can move laterally around the company to plug holes, troubleshoot, repurpose, etc. Because iPads last a long time and are ubiquitous in my company … and I want it that way.
I am about to start a company that will have 13 kitchens for which I will need KDS. If moving KDS to Android is a harbinger of the direction that Square is going, I will have to rethink my loyalty to Square. I am aware that Square is pushing their hardware more these days than when we originally bought-in and understand their financial motives, but they are betraying the very reason many of us were excited by Square in the first place. I’ve been in this industry for over 20 years and dealt with— for too-long and with too much aggravation— locked-in archaic, overpriced hardware that required reliance on their costly technical support.
Square was a revelation. Honestly, a godsend. But now I’m worried that they’re changing.
Am I alone in these concerns? What will it take to get Square to rethink this (short sighted) decision?
