[LINK] NYTimes - Starbucks and Square to Team Up

[Roger Clarke]

At 22:21 -0700 7/8/12, Scott Howard wrote:
>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/technology/starbucks-and-square-to-team-up.html
>*"SAN FRANCISCO - Cash moved one small step nearer to its deathbed with the
>announcement on Wednesday that Square, the mobile payments start-up, would
>form a partnership with the
>Starbucks<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/starbucks_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Coffee
>Company"
>*
>
>I'm sure Roger especially will have some comments about this part :
>*
>"But when Starbucks uses Square's full GPS technology, the customer's phone
>will automatically notify the store that the customer has entered, and the
>customer's name and photo will pop up on the cashier's screen. The customer
>will give the merchant his or her name, Starbucks will match the photo and
>the payment will be complete."*

Not only that, I'm astounded that a writer in the NYT could be so naive.

If any country ever tried to kill of cash (in its current sense of 
notes and coins), it would be re-invented within minutes, using 
whatever token was convenient to the people who wanted to exchange it.


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
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Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law               University of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University