The New York Times reports that Starbucks is expected to announce today that “customers of the 6,800 stores the company operates in the United States and the 1,000 that are in Target stores will be able to pay for their lattes with their cellphones instead of pulling out cash or a credit card,” an expansion of a program that the company has been testing in Seattle, New York, Northern California and in Target stores.
According to the Times, “Various technology and payments companies, including PayPal, Bling Nation, Square, Venmo and now-deceased dot-com start-ups have been experimenting with ways to wean Americans off cash, credit cards or both. But the introduction of mobile payments in Starbucks stores may be the most mainstream example yet.
“Owners of BlackBerrys, iPhones or iPod Touches can use them to pay by downloading the free Starbucks Card app and holding their phones in front of a scanner at Starbucks cash registers. The money is subtracted from their Starbucks account, which they can load with credit cards or, on iPhones, with PayPal funds.”
According to the Times, “Various technology and payments companies, including PayPal, Bling Nation, Square, Venmo and now-deceased dot-com start-ups have been experimenting with ways to wean Americans off cash, credit cards or both. But the introduction of mobile payments in Starbucks stores may be the most mainstream example yet.
“Owners of BlackBerrys, iPhones or iPod Touches can use them to pay by downloading the free Starbucks Card app and holding their phones in front of a scanner at Starbucks cash registers. The money is subtracted from their Starbucks account, which they can load with credit cards or, on iPhones, with PayPal funds.”
- KC's View:
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Starbucks may be doing it now...but I suspect that a lot of other companies will be doing the same thing pretty soon.
