• Video: Jack Dorsey Talks Square And I Buy Him Coffee With It

    Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

    MG Siegler is a general partner at CrunchFund and a columnist for TechCrunch, where he has been writing since 2009. His focus is on Apple. Prior to TechCrunch, MG covered various technology beats for VentureBeat. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in... → Learn More

    jackdAs we first reported over the summer, Twitter creator Jack Dorsey has a new project. Originally known as “Squirrel,” the name has been changed to Square, but the idea remains the same: A hardware/software combination for mobile devices (launching first for the iPhone/iPod touch) that allows vendors to easily accept and process credit card payments. Our full post on Square is here.

    I had a chance to catch up with Dorsey today at the new Sightglass Coffee (which Dorsey is an investor in) in San Francisco. In the video below he talks a bit about the idea behind Square, and then we do a demo in which I actually buy mine and Dorsey’s coffee at Sightglass (one of the merchant launch partners for Square). It’s a bit hard to see the iPhone’s screen due to the daylight, but you can easily see just how fast Square works for transactions. Simply put, it’s amazing.

    Also note how I can sign with my finger on the iPod touch’s screen. And I can request to get a receipt via email, which I enter the first time, but the app will remember every time you come back and use the same credit card. Also coming in the future is a way to send a recepit to your phone immediately via SMS. And that can also be used to verify that it is actually you making the transaction. You can also associate a picture with your credit card account through Square’s website so that a vendor will know it’s actually you authorizing the transaction. There is a lot to love here.

    Below find some pictures of Sightglass which for now is just a coffee stand in the SoMa area of San Francisco, but will early next year morph into a very large cafe.

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