Square and Starbucks make deal for cellphone payments

You could buy a lot of coffee with $25 million; that's how much money Starbucks is investing in Square as part of a deal to incorporate the mobile payments startup into its store systems. Starting in the fall, Square's Pay with Square app will be enabled for Starbucks purchases, and Starbucks will begin processing all its credit and debit card charges through Square.

While the existing Starbucks payment app will still be supported, the expansion of payment options with Square and the connection to Square's Directory of merchants using the system will push rapid awareness and adoption of the credit card acceptance platform.

Square founder Jack Dorsey (profiled in Wired last month by Steven Levy) posted a letter to the company's website announcing the Starbucks deal. "By embracing Square, Starbucks has validated [Square's] ideas as powerful tools-not just for small businesses, but for smart businesses," he said.

Square offers its free flagship card reader for iPhone and iPad with new merchant account signups, and has expanded into the point of sale space with Square Register for iPad. The iPad POS competes with similar systems from Shopkeep, Revel and POS Lavu. Other payment vendors like VeriFone and PayPal are offering iPhone-based payment tools parallel to Square's as well.

[via TechFlash]