News

Starbucks lets Android users pay via phone

Portland store serves wine and beer.

June 14, 2011

Starbucks is finally giving Android users what they've been clamoring for - an official Starbucks mobile payment app for their smartphones. The app is available from Android Market for phones running 2.1 or above.

Starbucks will also make mobile payments available to customers at 1,000 locations inside Safeway supermarkets starting in July.

The Starbucks mobile payment app for Android phones has been a long time coming (at least in mobile payment terms). Chuck Davidson, category manager for innovation at Starbucks and the man behind the mobile payment program, told Mobile Payments Today in February that the company was actively working on an Android version. The original version for iPhones and Blackberrys was made available in January and has been extremely successful, being used for more than 3 million transactions by March.

"With the addition of Starbucks for Android to the Starbucks app line-up, a Starbucks mobile payment app may now be used on approximately 90 percent of smartphones currently in use," said Adam Brotman, Starbucks' vice president and general manager of digital ventures, in a press conference announcing the news.

The delay of the new version, as well as the openness of the Android marketplace and the ingenuity of Starbucks patrons, has caused some Android-owning Starbucks fans to create their own mobile payment application. In at least one case, Starbucks was forced to issue a cease-and-desist letter to a developer who had created a knock-off version of the app for the Android market.

Starbucks for Android allows users to:

• Pay with their phone: Customers Download the app, enter their Starbucks Card number, scan and go.
• Manage their card account: They may access their Starbucks Card balance directly from the phone.
• Reload card balance: Customers may use their smartphone to reload a Starbucks Card using any major credit card.
• Monitor My Starbucks Rewards status.
• Find nearby Starbucks stores.

A venti beer?

In other Starbucks news, customers in Portland who want a stronger buzz than an extra shot of caffeine will provide may order beer and wine at the city's newest Starbucks location.

Portland's KGW News Channel 8 reportedthat the Seattle-based company is selling the spirits after 2 p.m. in a new 2,300-square-foot Portland location.

Along with pastries, the store's sit-down menu includes pasta, cheeses and mini-dishes.

Portland marks the second wine market for Starbucks, which already sells regional wine and craft beer at three locations in Seattle.

The company also plans to sell beer and wine at an existing store in Issaquah, Wash., later this year.