Purchasing a tall vanilla latte at Starbucks could get a little easier beginning next month thanks in part to the company’s partnership with mobile payments technology provider Square.
In a presentation at the Starbucks Global Leadership Conference in Houston today, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Square CEO Jack Dorsey announced that the Square technology will be rolled out at 7,000 Starbucks locations in early November. The companies also announced that digital tipping on Starbucks’ existing mobile payment applications and on the Square Wallet will begin next summer — addressing a long-standing complaint among coffee slingers.
“Starbucks and Square share a passion for constantly improving the customer experience,” said Dorsey in a press release. “This partnership gives millions of Starbucks customers a quick, seamless payment experience and introduces them to hundreds of thousands of small businesses in the Square directory.”
Eventually, Cnet reports that the Square technology could be used to identify customers phones as they arrive at the store, allowing customers to pay for food or beverages by just giving their name to the barista.
The companies formed an alliance last month which included the coffee retailer sinking $25 million into Square at a reported $3.25 billion valuation. Starbucks made a series of other announcements at the conference, with Schultz noting in his remarks that “there has never been a more important or exciting time for Starbucks.”
As we noted earlier this year, nearly everyone is jumping into the mobile payment arena, including giants such as Amazon.com, Google and Walmart.
