When I initially heard about the Starbucks mobile card test only being expanded to Target stores, I wondered if the reason was because of infrastructure. After all, there are west coast tests of the mobile card in full scale stores.

After trying to use it, I now believe that the choice of Target Starbucks as test locations was due to their lower volume.

I presented my iPhone app mobile card for payment. It took a minute for the cashier to realize what I was doing (how long into the test?)

She was unable to scan the mobile card after a couple of attempts, and then had to make a couple of attempts at manually entering the card before the system would accept it as payment.

Another cashier was confused with what was even going on with my iPhone and the order. At some point, I can imagine that I would have been public enemy #1 if this were a standalone Starbucks at rush hour.

I successfully paid for my drink with the mobile card, but I don’t think I ever will do that again, at least not until I see others in line successfully paying in this way.