Today, I read about Square. In addition to the name, which I obviously like, I’m blown away by its ingenuity and simplicity. What is Square? TechCrunch writes:

The idea–let people quickly and easily accept physical credit card payments from their mobile phone. A small device attaches to the phone via the headset/microphone jack. The device gets the power it needs to send data to the phone from the swipe of the card, and sends the information over the microphone connection.

Think paypal, but anyone can now accept physical credit card payments, too. With no contracts or monthly fees. People are sent receipts by text and email.

This is a perfect example of how the iPhone (fine, Elena, all smartphones) is changing the game. The peripheral market created by these devices is huge. Rubber, meet road. In other words (and this is where brands need to pay attention), the technology is merely the means to an end. It is the conduit, the feature. The real gold is buried in its application. How does this stuff affect how I work, operate, live? Why do I care?

Square answers this question instantly. The first frame on the web site reads: Accept payments. Everywhere.

Good stuff–definitely one to watch. It also doesn’t hurt that its founder started another little venture you may have heard of, Twitter.

Shortformblog astutely points out, like Twitter, it’s dead simple. Unlike Twitter, it’s not a super-esoteric concept at the out set, begging people to figure out why it’s necessary. It just makes sense.

I’m just happy their logo is green. Otherwise, we would’ve had to throw down.

By Rich Sullivan
Tags: awesomeness, iPhone, technology

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 12:06 am and is filed under General . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.