Mobile payments are nothing new in the global marketplace, as companies like Paypal and mobile apps offered by specific retailers have long allowed individuals to pay for goods and services without getting out a credit card or cash. Square Inc’s CEO Jack Dorsey has a different vision for the future however, one which moves payments out of your wallet, off your phone, and into the background.
With a new partnership with Starbucks launching this fall, Square will be taking the first step by allowing customers to simply hold up their phones and permit Starbucks to automatically charge the customer’s associated card. The ultimate objective is to move beyond this step and allow a background app from square to make the payment process completely automated.
With Dorsey’s system, the phone’s GPS system will be able to detect when a customer has walked into a Square-enabled retailer, connecting the app with the store’s checkout system automatically. Without ever taking your phone out of your wallet, the retailer’s checkout register will be displaying your face and name as a square enabled customer in the vicinity, allowing you to simply give your name, order your merchandise, and walk away while the app charges your credit card in the background.
Starbucks has always been a technology forward company, carrying out 1 million transactions a week via pay-by-phone app already, and was a natural partner for Square to tap into the 8 million customers buying coffee at Starbucks locations every week. According to Dorsey, the best technologies are the ones you don’t see; “We are building technologies that fade away, that go into the background so people can focus on what is most meaningful to them.”