(4 December 2009 – USA) The co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, has launched a new company selling systems that turn mobile phones into payment card readers.The company, Square, offers a device that can be plugged into the head phone jack of a mobile phone instantly transforming it into a payment terminal.
The device works by swiping a customers card through a small plastic device and ‘confirms’ the payment by the customer ‘writing’ their signature with their finger before a receipt is sent to their email address or mobile phone instantly.
Customers also have the option of using text messages to authorise payments in real-time.
The merchants can upload a photo to verify the card holder and can create a Square payer account to speed up and secure payments.
The company claims that merchants can get from ‘$0 to $60 in just under 10 seconds’.
There are no contracts or monthly fees to use the technology and it will also donate one penny from every transaction taken by merchants to a cause of their choice.
According to TechCrunch, the company is already valued at US$40 million (A$43 million) after raising US$10 million in a funding round.