Starbucks app update brings Passbook support

The update in Canada doesn't include Passbook support. Lame.

Off Topic: Starbucks sends you your free rewards and free birthday drink as a postcard in the mail. It's not a very fast or secure method as anyone can use your postcard.

Today I received in the post my latest free drink card but the text was different:


This plus Passbook should make this a big hit.



* I don't mind the Imperial Units of measurements that the US still uses but I don't get why we use the backwards date of putting the smallest duration between the second largest and largest duration, respectively.
Edited by SolipsismX - 10/3/12 at 6:24pm

No Passbook for Canada

I still don't get "Passbook" at all. It seems we are expected to download apps from others to get their coupons in Passbook?

Why would I want to junk up my phone with numerous apps from third parties (most of which are ugly and stupid), just to get the coupons to show up in Passbook?

For me (and I think many thousands of others), this is just a non-starter.

If on the other hand, when I went into a Starbucks there was some way of them automatically putting something into my passbook that might be okay, but to have to pre-figure out which places might have "offers,"... then download the app... link to passbook ... wait ... reward?

It's just stupid and far, far too much trouble for what is essentially a crappy coupon that you can find in any newspaper.

Not going to happen.

I'm very particular about which apps I download and put on my phone. I'm not going to install some shitty ugly app just because with a lot of extra work I *might* be able to link it to passbook and then I *might* get 10% off of a cup of coffee or whatever.

Canada gets shafted every time! We have the longest land border in the world with the USA and still can't get anything. I can get Canadian cell reception in Buffalo. We should get everything the US gets. It's not like we are behind in technology or anything. Our movie theaters (Cineplex) are already using passbook. Come on Apple.

You can get Passbook passes from iMessages, emails, websites, and apps. Passbook isn't necessarily tied to an app, that is just a new way that certain apps can help assist their customers, like with Passbook.

I have the Starbucks app, but I still use my physical Starbucks card because I don't want to search for the app each morning. If Passbook will pop up as I enter the store, well that changes everything. I suspect it will make it the most convenient use method going forward.

There is one caveat. Passbook doesn't seem dynamic in it's ability to update your balance on a card like your Starbucks card. That field is generated and put into the Passbook pass. That means you'll have to go into the Starbucks app to get a new pass sent to Passbook or keep a mental track of your balance. Not a big deal, but something I hope Apple addresses.

and you get a "free" item (any food/drink)  after 12 purchases instead of 15.

However, flavor is no longer free.

So the average price for me is going up 41 cents. (French Vanilla Grande Latté)

That would be iPhone and iPod touch digital asset repository

Interesting. I didn't see the 12 instead of 15. That's some good news.

Since it's 1/5th as many purchases I wonder if you are still making out? I never use the extra flavours with that. A few times I've gotten an extra shot of espresso, but that's it. I've seen some people go crazy with their orders for a free cup.

Have you bought items — like drink and bagel — as a separate purchases to get that extra sale in? I do it, but I like to wait a few minutes to look like I'm just deciding later.

Does that mean...? Happy Birthday, Solipsism!

Give or take 6 months.

Flavors, soy milk and breve are extra (free with the new plan) so anything with these, it's more $$. Anything else will average less.

I usually get a venti with an extra shot for my free drink. Some people get a venti with 6 shots!

Maybe once or twice. I usually want to get going so not gonna jump back in line. I think it should be 1 star per drink, not per purchase.

If I go in with my daughters and get 3 drinks and maybe 1-2 food items, that easily $15. That'll go up $1.50.

Such is the quest for the almighty green!

I agree with the per drink or per dollar amount. I usually study there for a while so getting in line isn't a big deal for me. I'm usually there at 5am and start work at 7am. On the weeks I oft spend from 5am to 9am studying.

At least they don't lock you out for an hour after a purchase from getting more points, and actually offer points. It's not like they have any real competition in most places that requires this kind of "gift".

I hope this will augment the Starbucks cards and not replace them.  It's easier to organize a Starbucks run at work when everyone has their own cards to pay for their own drinks, etc.

 

 

We write "10/16/12" because we say, "October 16th, 2012".  The fact that the rest of the world doesn't like it is just icing on the cake.  ;)

Passbook was poorly implemented in my book. No pun intended. Not nearly enough vendors lined up to utilize it at launch, and as a result a very poor demonstration of why they think it is better than NFC. In fact Cook just simply should have not addressed NFC at all.

Theoretically, you will be able to load store cards, credit cards, gas cards, restaurant cards, etc. and use those for electronic purchases at POS. Im like you, and the coupon thing would only make sense to most who are already using an App, like Starbucks, or a grocery store chain. And Passbook is supposed to automatically open to that store when you are in proximity to make using this payment method easier.

Theoretically, Apple could leverage their iTunes database as one of these methods, depending on being in an apple partner store, so that you could actually charge anything to your iTunes credit card. Sort of like using PayPal. Personally, I'm not eager to load balances on cards like Starbucks, etc. I have a couple of credit cards I use for everything, and if these were made available for use with Passbook, then I would be a lot more likely to use it as a primary payment method, where I could (and that's the other big problem, as I believe every vendor has a completely different method for scanning that information -- Passbook just helps you organize it). On the other hand people give me gift cards all the time, and they rarely get used, because I never remember to bring them with me. If I could just download the app and register the card, it would sure be a lot easier to use them when I happened to be in a particular store, then delete the app after I've spent the money. And don't forget the ticket purchasing aspect ... From airlines to movie tickets -- the apps for which you are theoretically already using -- passbook will make them incredibly easy to use. I'm totally in board for that one. The problem so far seems to be that the venues who accept the tickets aren't really up to speed with the new system, and I'm not sure how widespread it actually is at this point.

Again, I'm not sure what Apple hopes to accomplish here. It's a very small step toward a user payment system, and since it isn't a unified payment system like NFC purports to be, and just an organizational tool (which requires a lot of front end setup time by the user), I don't see this really going far, or being in any way as revolutionary as Apple suggested it would be (such claims tend to include everyone and this seems to only effect users who are already using these apps), especially in light of their comments suggesting it was a more practical implementation than NFC at this time. Once they standardize NFC, Passbook may still be useful to organize your bank cards, and all the other stuff passbook can handle now, but unless I'm missing something Important, Passbook is in no way a suitable substitute for NFC or other unified POS system.
Edited by Mac_128 - 10/3/12 at 9:13pm

Whoops, I guess I assumed too much from your comment...

Just pulled into the shopping center where one of my "favorited" Starbucks resides and my phone notified me. I slid it and it popped open Passbook right to the Starbucks card. I like that!

However, it did make me realize that if when Passbook gets huge that there are many additions that will need to be added. For instance, I don't want Starbucks popping up at 10pm at night. That's a 5am to 10am usage for me. I'm sure there are other passes that are only selected on certain dates or days of the week. For instance, if you have an American Airlines flight one week and a Delta flight the next from the same airport I don't want either popping up unless it's the day of the flight.


You can still get me a gift. I wear a 4" iPhone with a 64GB inseam. :D

solipsismx: Passbook DOES have the ability to pop-up automatically when you enter your favorite Starbucks store(s)

That is what I stated in my last post.

No  Starbucks passbook in the UK either unless its a phased roll out ...

Everything I've seen it's just an additional feature for apps if they want to use it. Think of how Push Notification works in that apps can use it but it's still just a single service running on your phone. This is giving store cards apps you might have a way to pop up when you are very near without having to background every app and have it keep checking for your location.

When you put it that way I have no counterargument.


Edited by SolipsismX - 10/3/12 at 11:50pm

 

I doubt they will replace the card. Not everyone has a smartphone.

No Passbook support in the UK either!

You need to add the words AS LONG AS YOU LIVE IN THE US! As with a lot of these things only the US get to use it. What about the UK?

 

So your "John.B" handle obviously doesn't stand for the very British "John Bull"  ;~)

Actually, that's incorrect.

 

Passbook has the ability, through new guaranteed-delivery push notifications, to update your card in real-time (depending on Starbucks' servers).

 

Any and every field can be updated instantly.

 

Remember how they talked about updating your boarding gate in realtime at the airport? That's what this is about.

 

So you have nothing to worry about. Passes are very dynamic. 

I don't think card is dynamic. I think push is dynamic. Like the gate can be changed when it is pushed but the balance will not change immediately after you pay for something. I'm not 100% sure though.

However Pass has ability to notify you by time, like time for your movie, time for boarding, so 2 flights a week apart shouldn't be a problem.

Why weren't digital rewards available from the get-go? Receiving rewards by mail based on digital accumulation of points is that sending an email that is delivered by a postman.

As long as we can all agree to put the date largest to smallest so the date sorts right, I would agree that the US should change. That would follow the trend that Capt. Kirk set in motion years ago!

Updated app, but no passbook working in UK.

half the time I have to use my card anyway as the staff say they are not allowed to handle the ipod and the till is too far from the drive-thru window for the scanner to reach so I only get to use app if I actually go in

But is it smart enough to not show a pass at a location if the time perimeter is set and not yet within an acceptable window.


I figure becuase a lot of customers would probably still need some way to print them out from email or their website, so this was an extra service Starbucks was eating the cost on. With just the card, it just doesn't have a way with their local systems to query the transaction server and ask if you want to use your free drink or wait.

I had to turn off both Passbook and Starbucks's location services because I work RIGHT ABOVE the Starbucks in my building and it kept going off every 5 min.

 

They should work in some system where it only buzzes me between 8:00 and 9:00 am.

 

Also, does anyone know how often Passbook uses its location services?  Maybe I'll just keep it off all the time if it just drains my battery.

Apple certainly makes it a pain to add things to passbook. You first need to download the Starbucks app. Then you need to add your cards to the Starbucks app. Then you need to create a Starbucks account in the app including your email and postal mailing address. Already have an account and forgot username & password? Then you need to go to their web site to retrieve that stuff. Then you need to go into the Starbucks app and select your card. Then you need to click manage. Then you need to click add to Passbook.

If you are doing all that just to try out the Starbucks's Passbook pass then you aren't the target. All I had to do was update the app to get access to Passbook because I'm a longtime user of their service.

You also don't need to use an app to add a pass. As previously stated the OS can add it from pretty much anywhere. it's a just a file like sending a vCard and the system will update appropriately. I don't think it could be easier to add a pass to Passbook.

Just tested it out. After it's used you don't have to go into the Starbucks app to "refresh" you balance. You can aaimoly turn the pass around and pull to refresh to update your balance. That is two steps more than I'd like but t least I dot have to use the app at all (or the physical card).

Tomorrow ill use it and see if auto-updates before I use it on the weekend.

 

I absolutely agree.  This should commence 2012/10/05.

 

Ah, so 2012/10/05 is October 5, 2012.

And 2012/11/10 is October 11, 2012. 

Uh yeah, that wont be confusing! Actually I prefer Year/Month/Day because it is much easier to tell which is older/newer etc.

 

But anyway, I'm actually one of the few that is excited about Passbook. Just got my Starbucks update and will try it out a little later. I understand that we can add passbooks via link, sms etc., but do you know of a site or similar somewhere that lists coupons available for download to passbook? One where we don't have to go in and create our own. I ran across a couple today, passfox.com and woobox.com but passfox had like 3 coupons, and woobox somehow was linked to facebook (didn't log in). Does anyone know if sites like Best-Buy, Walmart, Gap etc. have anything like that? Maybe an email signup list or something that doesn't need the App?

 

Oh also the valpak app has quite a few coupons to push to passbook.

I don't have the new iOS (I still have an iPod Touch second generation), but my understanding was that Apple made it so if you open the passbook file on your phone, the card is automatically added. Isn't that right? That would mean it's not Apple who's making it a pain, it's Starbucks. They could just ask for your email address and mail you the file, or have you log in to their website on your phone and open it from there.

 

Or did I totally misunderstand?