New Yorkers have plenty of good coffee on just about every block (Shout out to Think Coffee on Mercer!), but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a Starbucks on every other corner just like the rest of the world.
If you’re a regular at the ol’ Bucks (Hey, I’m not judging. Coffee snobbery is for chumps), live in NYC, and tote an iPhone, you’ve got a new trick up your sleeve that you can use to impress the ladies/gentlemen/anyone-who-might-actually-be-impressed-by-this: paying with your phone.
Now, this isn’t an entirely new concept by any means: Starbucks rolled this out in a dozen-or-so stores late last year, then pushed the pilot program into about 1,000 Target stores around the country back in March. Today the number spikes again, with Starbucks pushing out Mobile payment support in 300 more stores in New York City and the Suffolk/Nassau regions of Long Island.
Here’s how it works: First you buy a Starbucks gift card. Then you load up the free Starbucks Card Mobile app on your iPod Touch, iPhone, or BlackBerry (Starbucks says 71% of their customer base carries at least one of these), punch in the details from the gift card, and you’re all set. The barista scans a code of your device’s screen when it’s time to pay, and your daily dose of caffeine is one the way. When the funds run low, you can refill the card right from the handset. Pretty nifty.
Try it yet? Let us know how it works.