I'm a big fan of mobile payments and Starbucks! So when the two come together it gets my attention. I've had the Starbucks Mobile Payment App on my iPhone for six months, hoping to find a store where I can use it, to no avail. Mobile payments make perfect sense. I rarely carry cash when traveling because of the risk. I always have my iPhone and would be perfectly comfortable paying with it.
Mashable, Starbucks has seen sufficient success with its Starbucks Card Mobile payment pilot program in select San Francisco, Seattle and Target stores that its ready to extend the program to nearly 300 company-operated stores in New York City and Long Island.
Starbucks Card Mobile for iPhone and BlackBerry lets users pay for their coffee by holding up the 2-D barcode on their smartphone to the scanner at the counter. The application allows customers to manage and reload their Starbucks Cards as well.
Customers have responded positively to the mobile payment option, Starbucks reports.
“We’re seeing more and more customers using their smartphones as their mobile wallets,” says Brady Brewer, vice president Starbucks Card and Loyalty. “We’ve heard from our customers on My Starbucks Idea that they want a faster, more convenient way to pay.”