I read about Starbucks Mobile Payment system today, and I just had to try it. Basically, the concept is: why carry around another gift/rewards card in your pocket when you already carry around a smartphone? Made sense to me, plus I already like the idea of mobile payments. I have been using www.venmo.com off and on for almost a year, and found it to be super helpful.

Overall, the Starbucks version of mobile payments is pretty attractive, and what I found was:

1) It's a lot of steps to go through.
2) It was a fun, easy experience that could work to make me a loyal fan.

If you scroll through the images above, you'll see what it took to get me started with the whole mobile payment experience. It ultimately took five steps (really, six) to get to the point where I had drink in hand. Before heading out I found a nearby Starbucks location in the app—nice, obvious user experience.

So, in store, the first thing I had to do was (1) buy a Starbuck card. Luckily they had the (RED) card which donates $0.05 to the Global Fund to fight AIDs in Africa every time it's used (why would anyone use any other card if they know this one exists?). Then I had to resist the urge to use that piece of plastic and instead enter it and it's code into the iPhone app. Okay, easy enough.

Then I had to (2) log in to my Starbucks account (luckily, I had created one before I left—sorry Starbucks, but I hadn't bought Starbucks in probably a year prior to today). The technology (3) linked my Starbucks account to that new, red piece of plastic and, using my iPhone as it's proxy, it displayed to me that I was the proud owner of $20 of Starbucks credit. I liked how the card image was integrated in the experience. There was no doubt that was the card I was using.

So, the last steps were to (4) order a drink and (5) hand the cashier my phone, who waved the device in front of a barcode scanner. I saw my card's value change accordingly and immediately. So, past all the set up steps, I imagine future transactions to be super easy, and actually rather nice, especially with the little bit about doing good with (RED).

But the whole thing wasn't perfect. One big thing was: I wish I could buy a card right from the app. Why did I need to buy a physical card and then punch in the numbers from there? Wouldn't it be better to just buy a virtual card through the app? The plastic is now useless to me. Another small thing was: Why couldn't I "swipe" my card at the register? It may be silly, but I'm the type who likes the self check-out line at the supermarket, and this is my several-hundred-dollar device that I'm handing over the counter. Let me scan my phone, please!

One bonus was that Visa had a promo to get $5 added for free when you topped up your Starbucks card through the app. So, I did that and so now my experiment cost me $45, but at least I got $5 on top of that for free. That should get me 2/3 of a drink, right? :)

Anyway, the whole thing is very cool. It me feel good about my small contributions to a charity, let me be an early adopter of a cool, new tech application and the Chai Latte wasn't half bad either. Despite what jaded New Yorkers may think about Starbucks (and it's valid), they have done a great job of integrating a wholly offline experience with a mobile/online one, and they've made me look at them again.

Kudos, Starbucks. Kudos!