It came to light this week that Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, is working on a new project for mobile payments called ‘Square‘. The project has been around for a few months, but the press finally put together the various pieces and worked out what they were up to!

Square is a great concept: install some software on your smartphone, then plugin a small plastic square. You swipe a user’s credit card and take a payment.

As with all great ideas, the concept is extremely simple. It is aimed at small businesses who don’t aren’t able to invest in PDQ systems. The revenue model comes from taking a small fee per transaction. It’s great to see a mobile application that will help small businesses – afterall many of the online brands that we know and love (or hate) started as small businesses.

Most people think of mobile payments in terms of taking the money from the phone bill, however Square takes a more left-field approach to it. There is no question that people are reluctant to enter credit card details on a mobile site. Even though the connection is almost the same as PC web, the trust element with mobile is missing. So if Square takes off (and I hope it will), as well as providing a useful and much needed service for SMEs, it may also change perceptions about payments through the phone.

With the introduction of NFC (Near Field Communication) systems on mobile, in app payments and now Square, the next year will see mobile commerce becoming massive.