Square and Starbucks Expand Their Mobile Payment Services

• mPayment services are constantly being improved

• Square has developed credit card-free payment services

• Square is thereby closing the circle between merchants and buyers

• Starbucks is expanding its successful app

• NFC payments also launched in Great Britain

• Mobile payment options for drive-thru customers

• PayPal payment services also introduced in Canada

Progress continues to be made in the world of mobile payment services. The mobile payment provider Square is expanding its app to include the option of paying without a credit card, while Starbucks is also integrating new functions into its app. This points to the fact that already established providers of new payment systems are striving to further improve their services.

Until recently, Square had focused on equipping merchants with a device to attach to their smartphones that would enable them to swipe credit cards and provide their customers with the option of cashless payment. Square has now expanded its services to include card-free payment options.

The Pay with Square app allows customers to pay in certain stores using only their names. Users load the program onto their smartphones with iOS or Android operating systems and transfer their credit card data onto their smartphones just one time. After registering with the merchant via the app, customers can simpy give their names at the check-out. Both the customer’s name and photo appear on the cash register’s screen, allowing the cashier to authenticate the buyer’s identity. This completes the payment. Pay with Square is thereby truly making cashless and card-free payments possible.

In addition, Square is integrating a merchant directory into its app. On a map of their surroundings, customers can see which merchants in their area offer the option of Pay with Square.

Source: Starbucks

Starbucks is also expanding its payment app, enabling customers to now pay with it in the drive-thru. The drive-thru cash registers are equipped with a special terminal, allowing customers to pay from the comfort of their cars without having to hand their smartphones to the cashier.

After announcing that it woud introduce payment services via NFC in Great Britain after a brief trial period, Starbucks recently declared that it would provide an additional payment function in Canada, namely via customers‘ personal PayPal accounts. This payment type adds an extra level of security that, according to Starbucks, is important to many customers.

These improvements and new functions of mobile payment services confirm the trend that these payment options are increasingly being accepted by customers and are becoming ever more widespread and convenient. It is apparent that established providers are continually improving their services and apps in order to use new functions to cement existing client relationships and win new customers.

Square

https://squareup.com/pay-with-square

http://mobilbranche.de/2012/03/square-treibt-zahlung-ohne-plastikkarten-voran/14490

Starbucks

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/2012/03/29/starbucks-continues-mobile-payments-push-with-drive-thru-availability

http://www.knowyourmobile.com/smartphones/…_payment_to_the_uk.html