Paying for coffee via your mobile?

An unofficial mobile payments application for Starbucks, which enables smartphone users to make POS purchases by displaying a bar code that is linked to their prepaid card account, is proving very popular and has been downloaded over 160,000 times.

 

The third party app is designed for smartphones using Google's Android operating system, for which the coffee retailer has not yet released its increasingly popular mobile payments app. The official app is currently only available for iPhones and Blackberry's, though Starbucks says one is being developed for Android. 

 

The unofficial 'My Coffee Card' app has been developed by former Starbucks employee Stewart Gateley. In May Starbucks partnered with Barclaycard and Visa Europe to launch contactless and NFC mobile payments at its UK outlets from Spring 2012.

 

To be thorough I even road tested the app and my experience was smooth to say the least….

 

Downloaded app - smooth.  Found an old Starbucks gift card (from 2007) and loaded to the app - smooth.  Went into the app and topped-up the card - smooth. Stopped by a Starbucks on my way home and used the phone to make the purchase - smooth. Drank the iced green tea on a very hot day - very SMOOTH.

 

Card Commerce has a close eye on mobile payments and we continue to look at innovative ways to develop our prepaid capability to ensure we are in tune with market developments and technological breakthroughs. 

 

Watch this space.