While many bankers expect Apple Inc. to help bring mobile payments into the mainstream by developing its own system for the iPhone, the consumer electronics giant could also have the same effect with its advertisements.
The Cupertino, Calif., company is showcasing Starbucks Corp.’s mobile payments application in a new television ad for the iPhone.
The ad, which also features Delta Air Lines Inc.’s app, shows a hand waving the smartphone with the Starbucks app open in front of a barcode reader.
A narrator says the iPhone “can be almost anything, like a boarding pass, or do almost anything, like pay for your coffee.”
Starbucks recently rolled out its mobile payments system to all corporate-owned coffee stores after a pilot that started in late 2009. To use the service, a Starbucks customer loads funds onto one of the retailer’s prepaid card accounts. Users can manage their accounts with the mobile app, which also generates a digital bar code that a cashier can scan to pay for purchases.
Starbucks’ app, which uses software from Larkspur, Calif., mobile banking vendor mFoundry Inc., also works on Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry smartphones. The Seattle retailer has also said it is working on a version for smartphones using Google Inc.’s Android operating system.
