Many bankers expect Apple Inc. to help bring mobile payments into the mainstream by developing its own system for the iPhone. But the consumer electronics company could have the same effect with its advertising.
Apple, of Cupertino, Calif., is showcasing Starbucks Corp.'s mobile payments application in a new television spot for the iPhone.
The commercial, which also features Delta Air Lines Inc.'s app, shows the smartphone with an open Starbucks app being waved in front of a bar code reader.
A narrator says the iPhone "can be almost anything, like a boarding pass, or do almost anything, like pay for your coffee."
Starbucks recently rolled out its mobile payments system to all corporate-owned coffee stores after a payment pilot that started in late 2009.
To use the service, a Starbucks customer loads funds onto one of the retailer's prepaid card accounts. Users can manage their accounts with the mobile app, which also generates a digital bar code that a cashier can scan to pay for purchases.
Starbucks' app, which uses software from mFoundry Inc. of Larkspur, Calif., also works on Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry smartphones.
The Seattle retailer has said it is working on a version for smartphones using Google Inc.'s Android operating system.
