charge it to their credit cards simply by saying their names.
Starbucks is also investing $25 million (about 787 million baht) in Square as part of its latest round of financing, which values the company at $3.25 billion, and Howard Schultz, Starbucks' chief executive, will join Square's board. Starbucks has offered its own mobile payment app since last year and processes more than a million payments a week. Customers will continue to be able to use it, but they will also be able to use Pay With Square, Square's cellphone app, which eliminates even having to take the phone out of your pocket or sign a receipt.
At first, Starbucks customers will need to show the merchant a barcode on their phones. But when Starbucks uses Square's full GPS technology, the customer's phone will automatically notify the store that the customer has entered, and the customer's name and photo will pop up on the cashier's screen. The customer will give the merchant his or her name, Starbucks will match the photo and the payment will be complete.
Square, which was introduced in 2010, is one of many businesses _ like Google, PayPal, Sprint and Microsoft and start-ups like Scvngr and GoPago _ that are trying to offer mobile payments. But they have been slow to catch on as they require the cooperation of many players, including retailers, credit card firms, banks, phone carriers and phone makers.
compelling, safe and convenient experience for shoppers