We’re nuts for anything mobile. We get giddy over mobile commerce and wish our spouses had invented mobile payments.

It’s come to my attention that Digg founder Kevin Rose has invested in a mobile startup known as Square. Our digital curiosity motivated us to look into SquareUp and its potential retail relevance.

Self Edge Demin NY

Squareup: Micropayments via your iPhone

The Square iPhone app, which is currently in its pilot stage, is a convenient and safe way to receive and make payments via credit or debit card.  All a user needs is an iPhone, a Square account, and a card reader.

The person receiving the payment simply enters the amount to be received into his or her iPhone,  swipes the payer’s card into the card reader (which attaches to the iPhone), and the payee signs (with his or finger!) to confirm the transaction.  The payee will get a receipt via email or SMS.

If you forget your card reader, you can still receive payments by entering the credit card number manually.  Additionally, there are security measures in place to prevent fraud — payees can double check the payer’s identity by seeing his or her’s Square user photo, and payees can view the GPS location of where his or her card was charged on their receipt.

While the app is useful to anyone, for a designer, I see it as a potential savior during tradeshow technical malfunctions. If a designer’s portable processor fails when buyers are placing orders, this could to be a great backup option.