🚀 go-pugleaf

"Sylvia Else" <sylvia@not.here.invalid> wrote in message 
news:8q1ta4F96iU1@mid.individual.net...
> On 23/01/2011 4:34 PM, Sunny wrote:
>> "Sylvia Else"<sylvia@not.here.invalid>  wrote in message
>> news:8q1nmpF9coU1@mid.individual.net...
>>> On 20/01/2011 12:59 PM, Aussie Bob wrote:
>>>> What does everytone think of this idea? Using your mobile to pay for
>>>> coffee at Starbucks (yecch!)
>>>>
>>>> http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/starbucks-stop-here-forget-cash-use-your-phone-to-pay-20110120-19x9r.html
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "US coffee chain Starbucks has started allowing customers in its US
>>>> stores to keep their cash and credit cards in their wallets and pay 
>>>> for
>>>> their drinks with mobile phones."
>>>>
>>>> But I don't see how it would work if you're on a cap plan. Say I've 
>>>> got
>>>> a $400 cap, does that mean I can get $400 worth of coffee each month
>>>> instead?
>>>
>>> I'd have to wonder how secure they've made it. It could be done
>>> properly, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were possible to get 
>>> coffee
>>> at someone else's expense.
>>>
>>> Sylvia.
>>
>> The machine records the phone number of the mobile, and the bill is
>> forwarded to the phone plan provider
>>
>>
>
> The article implies that a code is read of the screen. The question 
> whether that code is constructed in a way that means that it cannot be 
> faked, nor reused.
>
> Sylvia.

There are several Mobile Phone "pay for goods" systems.
A popular Japanese one is billed through the phone provider, the Starbucks 
one seems to be an electronic "store credit card" and would have a unique 
number, same as a normal store credit card.
e.g.  Myers, Woolworth's etc.
(problem could occur if you wandered too close to a scanner though :-)