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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