Recent Posts

Unusual Perks
Spot The Battleship
Rip, mix and burn your training
Office of the Future
HRPAO Innovate '08
Assessing your HR
Size doesn't matter
Trendy funerals
Canada's 50 Best Employers
The New Paradigm

Worthwhile Reading

Geoff Colvin: The Upside of the Downturn
Geoff Colvin: The Upside of the Downturn

Click here to read our view of this book in our monthly Publication LeaderShip Edge


Archives

Other Blogs We Like

Slacker Manager
Brand Autopsy
Incite by Design
Media Diet
Creating Customer Evangelists
tompeters!
800-CEO-READ
Doc Searls Weblog
Blogs Canada
seth godin's BLOG
This is Broken

 
The business world - as it relates to strategy and human capital.

Get your fix, on wireless

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

There's a new way to quench your Starbucks craving...

An application for the iPhone and iPod touch is being developed to allow customers to connect and order Starbucks drinks from their phone.



How does it work?

When a customer comes in range of a Starbucks WiFi Hotspot their phone initiates an application to make a connection with the store. The application prompts them to purchase a beverage or to choose from a pre-configured list of "favourite" orders. The application then deducts the funds from their iTunes account. Once payment is confirmed a barcode is displayed on the phone screen.

The customer then swipes the barcode on the phone screen under a reader at the pick-up counter to collect their beverage.



With this new idea Starbucks can reduce staffing for order-taking and payment and allocate their resources instead to preparing their product faster. For the customer it means less time in lines and less fiddling with change in your pocket. Also your favourite orders can be stored so that you get exactly what you want, with the little details right, all the time.