Starbucks Card Mobile App on iOS devices and BlackBerry is a hit

The Starbucks Card Mobile app is a hit among people. Launched in January 2011, the service was available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and BlackBerry users. 6,800 Starbucks stores in the U.S. started accepting mobile payments.

On March 23, 2011, during the Starubucks Annual Meeting of Shareholders at Marion Oliver MacCaw Hall in Seattle, Howard Schultz, Chairman &CEO, Starbucks, revealed that more than 3 million people paid for Starbucks coffee via Starbucks Card Mobile. Brady Brewer, vice president, Starbucks, revealed that their company currently offers the largest mobile payment network in the country.

The “touch to pay” system allows customers to hold up barcodes in their Starbucks Card Mobile app to the scanner placed in the stores. The program first started in September 2009.

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USA Today

iPhone will come to T-Mobile subscribers after one year

Just because AT&T will acquire T-Mobile does not mean that the network’s subscribers will be able to get their hands on the iPhone. News reports revealed that T-Mobile subscribers will have to wait another one year to get their hands on Apple iPhone.

So what is the reason? Well, AT&T will have to get federal approval first. On March 20, 2011, news of AT&T acquiring T-Mobile for $39 billion in the cash-and-stock deal came up. With this acquisition, AT&T would become the largest network carrier in the U.S in terms of subscriber base.

After the news came out, one of the T-Mobile subscribers asked if they would get the iPhone which is currently available on AT&T and Verizon. The answer goes like this:

"T-Mobile USA remains an independent company,……The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and coming soon our new Sidekick 4G."

Another major reason for the iPhone launch delay for T-Mobile subscribers is that

T-Mobile has a different wireless network that is not compatible with the 3G radio of AT&T’s GSM network.

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Apple Insider

iPhone 5 NFC and remote computing rumor

The latest iPhone NFC rumor revealed that there may be a distant opportunity that the upcoming iPhone 5 would come up with NFC chip while Cult of Mac reports that Apple is looking into the possibility of remote computing via NFC technology.

Elizabeth Woyke of Forbes reported that she had been tipped by an entrepreneur, working on a top-secret NFC product. He (the entrepreneur) cited a friend working at Apple, that the company will include NFC in iPhone 5.

On the other hand, Cult of Mac reported that Apple is looking at the use of NFC technology in remote computing. Apple is now working with some NFC enabled phonesets. Mac App Store is also part of this strategy.

An NFC enabled iPhone user can log into a PC and the phone pairs up host machine and “loads the user’s files and settings over the net” as if the user is sitting in front of his machine at home. Part of the user’s profile will also show the apps he purchased from Mac App store. If the user opens an app, it will be temporarily downloaded to the computer and upon the termination of the NFC connection, the app will be deleted and the computer will return to its previous set up.

Looks very promising isn’t it? Well, you will have to wait till June to find out.

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Cult of Mac

Forbes

New Apple iPhone TV commercial tell you what happens if you do not have one

Apple iPhone is one of the most popular smartphone in the U.S. and one of the biggest advantage of the iPhone is that comes with a rich collection of apps that allows an iPhone user to do many things and Apple is showcasing this advantage in its new line of TV commercials.

Here is the TV commercial that shows what you can do with iPhone and its app store which has the largest collection of apps in the world.

This one shows how easy it is to buy books on your phone from the iBooks store.

This last one here shows the iPod and iTunes feature of the iPhone.

Seeing all the commercials, the conclusion you can reach is “If you don’t have an iPhone, well, you don’t have an iPhone.”

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9to5 Mac

Angry Birds creator Rovio plans to get into the stock market

The Finnish company, Rovio, developer of the popular Angry Birds mobile phone game, is going for IPO. With that end in mind, it raised $42 million.

The news was first published in a Finnish magazine, Talouselämä. In a statement issued by the company, it said, "The plan is to seek an initial public offering (IPO) in New York, but the specific timing and details are still open."

The company had the luxury to choose its financial backers. The list includes Accel Partners, Atomico and Felicis Ventures. Accel Partners was also an early investor in Facebook.

Rovio was founded in 2003. Over the years, the company produced more than 50 games for app stores. In December 2009, it launched Angry Birds for Apple App Store. It also launched the app in other app stores as well. Over the years, the game observed more than 75 million downloads.

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BBC

Apple VP Tweet message says white iPhone is coming in Spring

After AT&T iPhone 4, Verizon iPhone 4, brace yourself for the mythical white iPhone. After its unveiling at the Apple World Wide Developers’ Conference 2010 many news reports came out speculating about the launch of the white iPhone but it never showed up.

This time, the assurance comes from Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. In a Tweet message, he posted in answer to a buyer’s question, he said that the white iPhone is coming in Spring and it is a beauty.

In December 2010, 9 to 5 Mac published a news containing picture of a signage at the Apple retail store which said that the white iPhone will become available in Spring 2011. Well, Schiller’s announcement also coincides with the time. This time we all hope that the white iPhone will come out.

Earlier news reports revealed that the white iPhone is already available in Apple’s Cupertino Campus but it was not released due to color discrepancies between the button and the back and front cover of the phone. The two components had been produced by two different manufacturers and this created a big problem.

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Technolog