Your in line at your local Starbucks, checking email, your Facebook or Twitter account, or maybe you're just holding your mobile device in your hand. Now, why not just pay with your phone? Beginning this week, Starbucks will begin accepting mobile payments nationwide.
Though Starbucks has not yet released an app for Android devices (said to be in the works), Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and Blackberry users can start utilizing this new technology immediately; just download the iPhone or Blackberry app.
The Starbucks Card Mobile app allows users to add their Starbucks Cards, track their rewards and reload their cards using secure payers like PayPal or via credit card. To pay, just select the "touch to pay" button and hold up the barcode to the Starbucks register scanner and you're done.
I called around to a few Starbucks in town and though the associates I spoke with were aware of the new technology (Baxter & Shelbyville Road locations) they did not yet have a customer use it. However, the supervisor at the Bardstown Road location noted that they have about a dozen patrons a day using the new technology. I asked if there were any issues when using the app to pay and he said that the process has been seamless thus far.
Too bad I have an Android based device, otherwise I'd be more than willing to give the Starbucks Card Mobile app a whirl. If you've tried it, let me know your thoughts. Also, how do you feel about this new mobile movement - paying with your phone?
