Twitter creator to Square up to online transactions with new venture

Twitter creator to Square up to online transactions with new venture

Not content with creating the biggest change in online and arguably offline communication, Twitter co-creater Jack Dorsey has launched his latest venture.

Square, essentially a small piece of plastic that plugs into an iPhone headphone jack, allows a credit card to be swiped and a payment made to anyone who is registered to receive payment through the system.

The application means that a small business can accept payments for their wares on the go or if you have a friend that is slow paying you back the odd £20 you have lent them, you can produce your phone and Square, no more marching to the cash machine!

The last seismic change in online financial transactions came about thanks to Paypal in 1998, the financial transaction service that has helped eBay to flourish and reduced the transaction paper trail significantly. Square could have the same impact, if not a whole lot more.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times newspaper, Jack Dorsey has allayed fears regarding the security of making credit card payments on an iPhone:

“The payment system is secure, Dorsey said. Transactional data is safely encrypted, and the credit card info is never stored on the device, only passed along, he said. Signatures are drawn with a finger on the touch screen.” 

Square is likely to cost as little as $1 from the get go and the cost of manufacturing the plastic piece of magic is minimal which means the hardware itself will be made freely available and Blackberry and other handset compatibility is in development.

Square is currently undergoing beta trials in a handful of cafes and shops in Southern California.

Dorsey’s Twitter has taken over the online space in the last year, expect Square to shake up the online financial transaction world ,too, and what is the one thing Square has from the start that Twitter did not? A business model.  

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