Pay for Your Coffee Online: Starbucks Joins iPhone for Mobile Apps

With the way things are going in the telecommunications industry, the use of mobile devices as a means of taking care of all your business and personal needs is becoming increasingly popular in today’s environment.

Paying bills, making business or pleasure purchases and even storing your music collection are all functionalities that mobile devices are now equipped for.

And now, with a new iPhone application released from Apple (News - Alert), there’s one more advantage your mobile device can now bring.


The ever-popular national coffee house, Starbucks is teaming up with the iPhone (News - Alert), to deliver two official iPhone applications: myStarbucks and Starbucks Card Mobile.  

The applications resulted from customer feedback it received via social-networking sites, and My Starbucks Idea, the online community the coffee chain launched last year. 

A first for the coffee chain, these applications allow frequent Starbucks customers to have the best of both worlds: the service and experience Starbucks is known for, and the convenience and availability of new services on the iPhone.

The company’s myStarbucks application gives customers the ability to locate stores and bookmark their favorite locations to find out specific store information, including hours and amenities. 

Additionally, the application includes menu and nutritional information for Starbuck’s drinks, food and coffee, as well as a “drink builder” application that allows a user to custom make their drinks and find out the nutrition based on their favorite latte.

Starbucks’ second application, Starbucks Card Mobile, lets users check their Starbucks card balance and transfer more funds to replenish the card when needed. 

The best benefit of these applications: you can “pay” with your iPhone.

With the busyness of everyday activities, the card mobile application makes one thing simplier for all users: the purchasing process. By displaying a scannable bar code on the iPhone screen, users can pay for purchases within a Starbucks store. 

Stephen Gillet, the company’s chief information officer, said that the two applications, a Starbucks’ first for the iPhone and iPod touch, will give the company the ability to connect with customers in new ways. 

Starbucks will be competing with several unofficial iPhone apps, such as iApp’s Find a Starbucks Coffee, Snow Storm’s Expresso Pro and ourLivez’s Sbux Card.