Starbucks in the United Kingdom to begin mobile payments in January 2012

Starbucks has announced its decision to launch its new mobile app after having experienced notable successes in the United States with over 20 million mobile transactions.

This new service is designed to generate more registrations for the Starbucks Card program, which provides customers with an incentive to buy with advantages such as less expensive filter coffee or free syrup.

Earlier in 2011, it looked as though Starbucks might be considering implementing near field communication (NFC) technology-based mobile payments after the release of the Barclaycard and Orange collaboration called “Quicktap.” This represented the first time that an NFC service made its way into the commercial sphere in the UK, and relies on compatible hardware such as Samsung’s Tocco Lite model handset.

However, the new solution from Starbucks uses a barcode on a screen that can be scanned from the display so that the correct amount of cash can be deducted.

Though NFC payments are becoming more popular, and they do represent a notable advancement in technology, the UK is not quite ready to use this technology in the mainstream quite yet. This means that the alternative used by Starbucks has a much better chance of working well on a large scale.

The marketing director for UK operations, Brian Waring, said that they decided to develop their own mobile payment system because “We wanted to find a way for them to pay in the quickest way possible.” He added that as their customers already want it, they decided to create something that can work right now instead of waiting for NFC technology, which is not yet widely available.