(jaubele1)
For a few months now, coffee cravers at a small handful of Starbucks in Seattle and Northern California — along with many Starbucks located Target stores — have been able to pay by iPhone or Blackberry with the Starbucks Card Mobile App. And starting today, java junkies in New York City and Long Island will be able to try this system out at around 300 locations.
Says a Starbucks rep:
With the expansion of mobile payment to New York City, we expect to see more and more customers trading their plastic Starbucks Cards for the digital version on their mobile phone. In addition to the payment capability, customers can also keep track of their My Starbucks Rewards status and reload their card while they are on the way to Starbucks or in line… Expanding our mobile footprint gives our customers a new way to connect with Starbucks on the go and transforms the way customers experience their Starbucks Card through the mobile app.
According to InformationWeek.com, the BlackBerry devices that support the app are:
8800, 8820; Bold 9000, 9650, 9700; Curve 8300, 8310, 8320, 8330, 8350i, 8520, 8530, 8900; Storm 9530; Storm2 9550; and Tour 9630.
It will be interesting to see if this app actually speeds up the paying process, especially in light of Starbucks’ recent decision to slow things down a bit in the name of higher quality.
New Yorkers Can Phone In Starbucks Latte Payments [InfomationWeek.com]
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Too bad prices went up and they changed their policy so that drinks take longer to make.
I’ve been reading over on starbucksgossip.com and most of the baristas claim that the new system in fact doesn’t take longer, except during the initial training period. So I don’t think that’s a legit gripe.
Guess we’ll have to see once it gets up and running for a while.
I wish someone would come up with some sort of token-based way to pay, rather than fiddling with these mobile devices.
Like, you’d have tokens of different value, and you’d hand the cashier the combination that added up to what you owed. BOOM – transaction completed in a split-second. It’s going to be the wave of the future!
Yeah but tokens would get heavy. Perhaps we could also use paper that would be of higher value than the tokens.
Or maybe some plastic device that could hold the value of many papers…
Or maybe even a digital representation of paper that consists of thousands of promissory notes with no due diligence packaged up and sold off to people looking to make a quick token so they can go to Starbucks to pay in a split second for their grande (but in a venti cup) decaf-nonfat, sugar free vanilla, no foam 190′ latte!
This is the future I’ve been envisioning for the past 5 years. Ever since phones went beyond phone calls and texting, I’ve been waiting for someway for everything in our lives to be stored on our phones. This is probably step one towards that.
Huh. My Blackberry is supported, but I hate coffee. Whatcha gonna do?
Fiddling with my phone seems a lot more complicated than just handing them a card.
The fact that bux is looking for more ways you can pay tells me many people simply don’t want to pay-their prices.
It’s a stinking cup of coffee for goodness sake. Credit cards and debit accounts, by phone for a freaking cup of coffee most buy everyday with good ole cash. You’ve got to be kidding me.
The link goes to a pretty crummy story. “Starbucks didn’t explain exactly how the process will work at the register.” Well, considering that they’ve been doing this for a few months now in test locations, I’m sure the information is out there. And lo and behold, a quick Google search reveals this: http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/mobile-apps/starbucks-card-mobile
Basically, it pulls up a barcode which corresponds to your Starbucks card for the cashier to scan. Handy.
I would love this. I only pay for Starbucks with the store’s gold card (membership/rewards card – free drinks every birthday, every 15th purchase, etc.) and this would be really helpful. Then I wouldn’t have to carry my wallet when I get coffee, as long as I could get a confirmation that I had already paid.
no Droid?
no deal.
Seconded.