Squirrel: A new startup by the Twitter co-founder

Well, it has not been announced yet but the news flying by is that the Twitter inventor and Chairman – Jack Dorsey – is working on a new project, code-named “Squirrel”.

If we have to believe the TechCrunch report, Squirrel will allow anyone to accept credit card payments on their iPhone.

M.G. Siegler on TechCrunch quotes:

“Here’s what else we know so far: It’s a service that allows anyone with an iPhone to become a merchant. Just like the wireless credit card swipers you see at certain shops and restaurants, you can carry around your iPhone and take payments. Apparently, the idea is that this will allow any individual to take credit card payments on a mobile device, kind of like what PayPal does for the web.”

The rumors (rather, reports from trusted sources) are that “Squirrel” will be a hardware dongle that needs to be attached to the iPhone to accept credit card payments.

Wonder what purpose this would solve?

Hmmm… A pizza delivery boy coming to your doorstep with “Squirrel” and an iPhone to help you make a payment through your credit card could be one option!!! Well, whatever! But even in this (absurd!) case, won’t wireless (GSM/CDMA based) credit card swiper be a cheaper option?

Anyways, let us wait to hear directly from Jack Dorsey. Hopefully, he is up to some brilliant business idea we are not yet aware of.

Till then, here is some food for thought for all of us here… hmmm…

iPhone + Credit Card + Squirrel + a pinch of Twitter + that pizza boy = ? ? ?

Well keep thinking, and keep posting your thoughts and comments!

(Source: TechCrunch)

(Image Credits: CrunchBase)