This new function will be implemented by the summer of 2013.
Starbucks has announced that its mobile payments system will soon be including a feature that will allow customers to leave a digital tip for baristas, and that this will likely become available as of next summer.
A similar ability will also be available through the Square program to be implemented in November.
This additional mobile payments system at Starbucks will also give customers the chance to leave tips for the baristas when they purchase their coffees. In order to use those programs, all consumers need to do is download the app to their smartphones and then link it to their debit or credit card.
The mobile payments app feature at Starbucks, outside of Square, is still a few months away.
Both the Square program that will be active as of November, and the Starbucks option function through apps. Once the consumer is at the head of the line, the app can be opened and the device can be waved over the scanner. This allows the entire transaction to occur.
Though the app from Starbucks, which will allow customers to earn rewards through its use, will be available for use exclusively at the company’s locations, the Square app can be used at any of the many different merchants that accept that service, which consist primarily of individuals and small businesses, aside from Starbucks, which was the first national chain to register for the program.
Starbucks is known for leading the way with mobile payments and has been highly successful in these ventures so far. The company has stated that one quarter of all of the purchases that are made at its locations are made through the Starbucks card, which can be used in its physical plastic form, or through a smartphone digital format.
The café company has also pointed out that its current app has now completed its integration with the Passbook, from Apple, which means that an iPhone owner’s Starbucks card will automatically appear on the screen as soon as that consumer enters one of the café locations, making it faster and easier to use mobile payments transactions.