Hacker News Reader

> Mobile wallet apps have not gained traction

"more than 11 percent of transactions a week now happening with a mobile device in our stores, and nearly 10 million customers currently using our mobile app"

http://news.starbucks.com/news/starbucks-accelerates-mobile-...

Seems to be all about proper implementation on both consumer and merchant side.

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There's a big difference and scale of problem for open loop mobile wallets and the one that Starbucks has.

Maybe the problem with an universal mobile wallet is that the problem is too hard to solve given the current environment (and dependency on the credit card rails).

The only reason I use the Starbucks app is because of all the free drinks I get. If I didn't get around 1/3 of my drinks for free, there's no way I would go through the hassle of using the app.

As far as I know, you can still carry their plastic card that has the same reward structure. App mirrors the card functionality.

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