Actually most cash registers start at between $100-$200, and don't do credit card processing, much less SMS receipts, Google-analytics style sales data tracking, etc etc etc... The value of Square + iPad beats the pants off what sort of cash register you can buy for $500.
Not to mention that when the day is over, you have an iPad.
I'm confused – Why wouldn't Apple pay you directly?
You shouldn't have to ask for anything, they should present you with an offer.
Meanwhile, you should do appropriate due diligence and interview with other companies that interest you and see what other offers you get. If Apple is interested in hiring you, no doubt other companies will be too.
Also: keep in mind that relocating will incur at least a few thousand dollars in expenses (which your future employer should cover as part of the comp package) and that living in the bay area is very expensive. 50k is do-able, but won't take you very far.
In the same vein as this, I did a weekend project to write a mac app / chrome extension combo which adds a "Clone Now" button to every github page. It works pretty okay and is available here: https://github.com/patr1ck/Mitosis
I saw the anchor you pointed to in the link (the Account Details comparison section), yes, but reading through the page again it looks like you addressed the things I mention in the very bottom section, which I glossed over on my first read – "Square has some neat features..." – my mistake, sorry!
Yeah, It'd be cool that were more apparent somehow. The page (well designed as it is) is heavily geared towards the fee comparison, and offers only quick takes on other details. It'd be cool to see a more thorough review of both units.
Square also offers other features like text message receipts that Verifone doesn't, like SMS receipts.
While fees are definitely one of the most important things to consider, ignoring other aspects of payment systems is short-sighted. It's a shame that Fee Fighters seems to be using just the 'checklist features' model of comparison.
I don't think these test results are anywhere close to accurate. Why is the iPhone 4, which has better specs than the iPad 1, 3x slower in the Canvas test? What OS was used on each device? How many test runs were done, and what was the variation like in each?