Life can get pretty hectic sometimes and with that comes the natural way of forgetting things. Do you want to stay awake? The solution is going to get a delicious drink at Starbucks. Did you leave your Starbucks gift card at home? There’s no need to panic. Since we are living in the 21st century, you know that technology is getting even more advanced.
Did you ever think that having a cell phone would be more useful for other actions besides calling or texting someone, going on the internet to check your mail, etc.? Well the latest addition to Starbucks service is a Starbucks mobile app that you can download to your iPhone or smartphone that can store your Starbucks gift cards, credit card, or PayPal information. All you’ll need to make your purchase is the barcode that will appear on the screen that will be scanned at the register and you’re good to go.
This sounds pretty great to a person who would like to leave their house with only their cell phones but in reality I don’t think this mobile app idea is a good one in the sense that complications can come along with the transactions. Some glitches can go wrong with this mobile app transaction. Nowadays devices are made, but no one device is made to perfection. During your transaction certain things could occur, for instance; your phone could completely freeze or randomly shut off on you without notice which can prolong your purchase. Something else that could go wrong is the transaction not going through. If you fully depend on your cell phone to make your purchase and leave your wallet at home, you’d be in trouble. Situations like this makes you think whether this mobile app will actually be successful. Only time will tell. One thing I do know is that I will continue to pay for consumer items the traditional way with bills, credit cards and gift cards!! But that’s just me. What do you think?
Sources:
http://singularityhub.com/2011/01/27/paying-for-starbucks-with-your-iphone-or-blackberry-now-in-6800-locations/
I have to agree you with on this. Our generation has entangled their lives and technologies so close together, some people actually suffer from withdraw when they turn off their mobile devices. The Starbuck’s mobile app, like any other app, is only as reliable as the network it is being used on. Does this new service really provide a faster form of payment? Another question would be, how safe is to trade our cash and cards in for our mobile devices? When you lose your wallet you make the appropriate arrangements to restore all your credit cards, and identification. When you lose your phone, if left unlocked, you open a gateway to a countless amount of worry. How do you restore?
ReplyDeleteIt's true that relying too much in technology can lead to catastrophic results. It's certainly very comfortable but the probability of loosing all our stored data is higher.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, you could lose all your books, pictures, memories and others in a fire at home. However with all the security services available now a days that is highly uncommon. On the other hand, loosing all the e-books, images and work that we have in our computer is quite easy. Drop your laptop...and it's dead.
But we have to be positive! Innovations are taking place almost on a daily bases and new security devices will be developed to resolve this problem.
Not long ago stores would stop accepting credit cards for a few hours because the systems were down, because the terminal was not working or because they simply did not know how to process the transaction. I really would like to know how well this new technology would work and how faster it actually is to make a purchase. I have used my cell phone before to scan bar codes and it works perfectly but how reliable this new feature will be? I will download the application and run to the nearest Starbucks this week just to get a glimpse by myself.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to agree. Although living in this era where everything is technology based is great and extremely convenient at times, it’s not something that you can always depend on. Speaking from personal experience, there has been countless of times where if I didn’t have my phone on me, I wouldn’t have been able to find that place, or send that email. Having said that, unfortunately there has been plenty of times where my phone has failed me. Either by loosing reception on that extremely important call, or my phone just completely freezing on me when I need it the most! Although this app is a great and convenient idea, ill probably stick to the old traditional way of paying for things as well.
ReplyDeleteAs customers we are constantly looking for new ways to customize our shopping experiences. I believe that this pay-by-Smartphone app new invention definitely shows that Starbucks has been paying a very careful attention to their customers and has been responding to the needs of their customers accordingly. Now for all you caffeine addicts out there, Starbucks is making it even more difficult to kick caffeine addiction by making it easier to pay for your drink, by simply pulling out your smart phone. We can only use our imagination to imagine how else the advances in technology will continue to surprise us.
ReplyDelete