Starbucks Drives Mobile Technology with One Million Mobile Payments in a Month

Starbucks Card Mobile Payment

Starbucks is reporting that between January 19 and February 15 of 2011 over one million payments were made at Starbucks locations using the new Starbucks Card Mobile Payment application.  This mobile app provides the following features:

• Lets you pay for drinks and food by having your mobile phone screen scanned at the counter
• Lets you view your balance
• Lets you check your Stars in the My Starbucks Rewards program
• Lets you reload your card
• Find the nearest store

With mobile payment accepted at more than 6,800 company-operated Starbucks stores and over 1,000 Target locations, there are many locations to use this mobile app.

The Starbucks experience is all about routine, consistency and comfort.  Having 7,800 locations accept and support this same mobile application is a powerful change agent.  I predict that this move by Starbucks will be seen as the launching point for mobile payments among us in the masses.

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On another note, Smartsoft Mobile Solutions, an SAP services partner, is currently working with some of the largest retailers in the world on mobile retailing projects.  These are B2C (business-to-consumer) mobile retailing applications.  Mobile retailing is not all they do, but they have some very interesting wins in this market.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility group on Linkedin:
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Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.