Starbucks Wednesday began allowing iPhone, iPod Touch and BlackBerry mobile payments for its coffee at thousands of its stores.
Starbucks launched a pilot of the mobile payment program last year at more than 1,000 of its shops that were located inside Target
The Starbucks miobile payment system allows customers to hold up a smartphone displaying a two dimensional barcode for reading by a scanner installed at Starbucks cash registers.
The smartphone links wirelessly to a person's Starbucks card, which is backed with a credit card. The Starbucks card, when depleted, can be reloaded from the phone.
Another payment technology, Near Field Communications, allows mobile payments through short-range radio communications, but NFC is its infancy in the U.S. despite its wider use in Japan and other countries.
Some reports said the rollout will be to 6,800 company-owned Starbucks in the U.S., but the Starbucks Website puts the number at over 7,500 Stabucks in the U.S., including Target stores.
Starbucks is working on an Android application for its card, but officials could not be reached to discuss a timeline.
