On Thursday, Dwolla co-founder and CEO Ben Milne will take the mic at the company’s meetup and deliver the major product announcement it’s been hyping since early November. It’s still uncertain what Milne will announce, but one thing is certain, he’s becoming a visionary in the mobile payments space and people will be tuning in to hear what’s next for his hot startup.
For today’s Sunday Video, I choose a video from nearly a year ago of an interview with another visionary in the mobile payments space, Jack Dorsey.
Interviewed by the Wall Street Journal in December 2010, Dorsey, who also co-founded Twitter, gives a brief overview of his company, Square, explains why he’s focused on processing credit and debit cards, hints at a way Square would mitigate fraud and talks about possibly distributing Square using taco trucks.
It’s his point about credit and debit cards that I think is most interesting to watch this week as Dwolla prepares to deliver an announcement that, as it says, “will change [Dwolla] as we know it.” Will Milne’s announcement change Dorsey’s mind on what he says below? Granted it was a year ago, Square is still focused on processing credit and debit cards.
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The interviewer, Lauren Goode, asks (2:50 mark): “What’s your justification for having this Square attached to someone’s phone when they may be able to do that at some point with a mobile banking app?”
Dorsey answered (3:12 mark):
“Well, I think the biggest thing is, everyone understands how to use a credit card, all the payers understand how to use a debit card, so my, you know, my 87-year-old grandmother can use her credit card to pay a Square merchant … As better methods come besides the card, we can certainly address those things, but right now, people are using these plastic cards, so let’s focus entirely on that.”
Check out the full six and half minute video below to hear more from Dorsey, and stay tuned later this week for our coverage of Dwolla’s announcement.