So, here’s the deal: You reload your card with Apple Pay in the app, and you then use the app itself to pay for your coffee. Apple Pay, in a way, pays for your coffee, but only by the transitive property. And, yes, the entire process requires Touch ID to work, so at least you’ll be secure in knowing that nobody else is taking your smartphone and benevolently reloading your card for you.
As I’ve mentioned on this blog many times, Starbucks essentially invented the gift card. The sole reason for this amazing invention and perks to the customer for using a registered gift card over credit card @ the POS is that you put $50 on your card once per month and use it throughout the month. Starbucks only has to pay the credit card processing fee one time saving them a few percent on their bottom line. The more you utilize a pre-paid gift card, the more money they make per transaction.
Apple Pay uses the existing Credit Card infrastructure. Meaning, if Starbucks accepts Apple Pay, the experience is so similar to their current Gift Card POS scanner that people would stop using Smartphone gift card barcodes and just start using Apple Pay. This cuts into their bottom line. You’d be surprised how many of Starbucks customers have Apple Pay. Their clientele is in a higher salary demographic and is more likely to have an iPhone than most other coffee chain customers. For this, they need their customers to keep using gift cards. It’s saving Starbucks millions of dollars a year.
I honestly don’t foresee them ever accepting Apple Pay at the POS. I will continue using my registered gift card on the iOS Home screen (via Passbook) because it’s convenient. I’d use Apple Pay if they accepted it.