In terms of new hot startups, Square is among the hottest. And for good reason. If it takes off, it has the potential to transform the way vendors and consumers handle transactions. (There’s a reason it was worth $40 million before launch.) Not surprisingly, the talent is also flowing to them.
Square has just hired Bob Lee, a software engineer at Google. And not just any engineer, Lee led the core library development for Android — yes, Google’s mobile platform that is exploding with growth and excitement right now. And yet, Lee is leaving after 5 years at Google for something he clearly feels is even more exciting, Square.
Square’s Buzz Andersen tweeted the news today, and confirmed that Lee is on board fulltime with Square now. Lee, who is apparently known as “Crazy Bob,” will be heading up development of Square’s Android app, we hear. Currently, Square only works on the iPhone and iPod touch. Getting to the other mobile platforms will be vital for the company’s success. And of these platforms, Android is clearly the first priority.
How Square will interact with Android devices isn’t yet clear since the system requires a hardware component as well. On the iPhone and iPod touch, a little square (hence, the name) plugs into the headphone jack — something which the iPhone OS 3.0 allows for.
Update: Lee has just tweeted about the news as well.
Update 2: Square co-founder Jack Dorsey also says that there are two other hires that Square will be announcing soon.
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