"Mobile payments tool Square, launches in New York taxis"

1. TECHNOLOGY»
2. TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Square, the mobile payments tool created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has made its debut in New York taxis.

Co-founder and chairman of Twitter, Jack Dorsey

The small white plastic square, which can be plugged into the bottom of people’s smartphones and via an app, allow users to take payments by their mobiles, is being trialled in 30 taxis in the ‘Big Apple’.

According to technology site AllThingsD, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission has given

the trial the green light.

It is still unknown if payments processed by drivers using Square will result in lower credit card transaction fees, but that was one of the main selling points Dorsey was keen to promote when launching Square in San Francisco two years ago.

Dorsey, who returned to Twitter to head up product development as executive chairman last March, has remained chief executive of Square at the same time.

Taxi drivers will use a version of Square’s existing app software but it has been modified for their specialised needs. The passenger will see an iPhone plugged into the meter and an iPad installed in the partition. Both driver and passenger will be able to track the running total cost of the journey, see their current location and traffic patterns.

Square is already being used by a variety of merchants in San Francisco, including taxi drivers. However, this is the first time that the technology has been adopted in New York taxis - a big market for the disruptive payment tool.

A spokesman for Square said: “Taxi drivers are among our most active and loyal users, with thousands of drivers around the country choosing Square as a more simple, cost-effective way to get paid for their work. By partnering with the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission on this pilot, we’ve built a system that meets the specific needs of NYC taxi drivers and makes the payment experience even better for their passengers.”

Interestingly, Dorsey, born in St Louis, Missouri, was into designing dispatch routing software by the time he was 14. Not a typical teenage obsession, perhaps, but taxicab companies are still using his software.

He dropped out of New York University and left his job as a programmer at a taxi- and courier-dispatch service in 1999 to move to San Francisco.

By 2000, he had started a company to dispatch couriers, taxis and emergency services via the internet. Anxious to find a new way of staying in touch with friends without having to stay tied to a computer, he approached an internet software company called Odeo, where Biz Stone worked and the idea for Twitter was subsequently born.