Article

Starbucks (finally!) releases an Android mobile payment app

Starbucks releases official mobile payment app for the Android

June 13, 2011

(UPDATED) It looks like Starbucks is finally giving Android users what they've been clamoring for: an official Starbucks mobile payment app for their smartphones. The coffee retailer will be releasing a version for smartphones running Android version 2.1 and higher on June 15. Additionally, Starbucks will 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 back 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. 

“The expansion of our mobile payment footprint has been driven by customer interest and input. 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, VP and GM of digital ventures for Starbucks, in a statement.

Brady Brewer, Starbucks vice president of card and loyalty programs, added, “Our customers have shown us that they love the utility, convenience and fun of our mobile apps and especially the ability to pay with their Starbucks Card using a smartphone. My Starbucks Rewards members, in particular, have been quick to adopt mobile payment as part of their everyday visit."

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

UPDATE: Additional information and remarks from the official Starbucks announcement, as well as some minor edits, have been incorporated into the post since it was originally published.