Starbucks Corp. is introducing its mobile payment app to BlackBerry smart phones, according to American Banker.
First developed for the iPhone, the app allows customers to load their prepaid Starbucks cards directly onto their smart phones. At the register, the phone produces a bard code on its screen, which is then read by special scanners in the payment terminal.
With both Apple and BlackBerry on board, Starbucks now boasts a mobile payment system covering 70% of smart phone users in its customer base, according to AB.
At a time when most banks are focusing on iPhone and Android operating systems, AB says Starbucks’ peculiar investment in the fading BlackBerry only appears as such. 35 percent of all smart phone users own a BlackBerry, with Apple and Android trailing at 28% and 13%, respectively.
Furthermore, Starbucks’ investment in BlackBerry acknowledges that many people willing to use their phones for transactions will likely be carrying company-issue BlackBerrys, according to AB
“When you look at the Starbucks customer base … it was pretty clear to me that I had to go to BlackBerry,” Chuck Davidson, category manager for innovation on the Starbucks card team, told AB.
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