New Way of Paying for Your Joe

It’s official; Starbucks is becoming more mobile. Check it out on YouTube. According to an article in WebOptimiser, the company is using a mobile payment system with its close to 7,000 company-owned stores following a testing of the idea in a few key stores. According to Brady Brewer, Starbucks VP, what this does is provide a much more convenient payment method. So far the iPhone and Blackberry have their apps and Android is on its way. But this is only a short-term method as in future phones won’t be needed as “near field communications” (NFC) technology will be applied.

Proven NFC Technology

In Asia, NFC technology has been used for a while in phones with chips, supported by various retailers. Already for last year, mobile payments reached $100m and by the end of this year, this figure is expected to double, according to Juniper research.

UK Coffee Drinkers Enjoy NFC

Starbucks and Barclaycard (in conjunction with VISA Europe) have signed a deal that has now brought NFC to their coffee houses. Most coffee houses throughout UK and Ireland will be using this technology by Spring 2012. How will this work? According to a recent article, “Orange customers with a Quick Tap-enabled handset will then be able to simply tap their mobile phone on a Starbucks contactless reader to make purchases of £15 and under.” The company’s aim is to make customer service as great as their coffee, according to the company’s EMEA technology services manager, Pete Blower. Since it seems that at coffee shops people just want to get their coffee and go, this is a perfect place for the technology to be in place.