Coffeehouse chain Starbucks has introduced a new BlackBerry and iPhone app, which allows customers to quickly pay for purchases through their phones.The app, which is funded through a credit or debit card, works when customers wave their phones over a barcode sensor to pay for their beverage of choice, and they no longer have to wait in line either.
And unlike a Starbucks card, users can see the balance in their account on their screens as money is added or debited, as well as loyalty program points.
The app, which was test-marketed in New York in October before a national rollout last month in 6,800 Starbucks-owned shops, has been a huge time-saver for subway train operator Todd Murrell .
Murrell, 37, of Jamaica, Queens, uses his BlackBerry to pay for his Sumatra or grande vanilla Americano coffee habit five to six times a week.
"After I enter Manhattan, I have eight to 15 minutes from when I get to the World Trade Center before I have to start my [route] again," the New York Daily News quoted Murrell as saying.
