Ordering your Timmys is about to get easier for smartphone users.
Tim Hortons is getting into the mobile payment game, saying Thursday it has launched a pilot project that will let customers who have installed the company’s app on their smartphones to use the device to directly pay for orders.
The move basically moves customers’ Tim Cards onto iPhones, BlackBerrys or devices running on Google’s Android software.
The country’s largest coffee chain has updated its TimmyMe application for iPhone and Android users to produce a barcode that can be scanned – similar to what rival Starbucks’ app does. The purchase is then docked from the customer’s Tim Card account, which users log on to the app.
The same idea applies to BlackBerry users, however, instead of producing a barcode to be scanned at the till, the phones use new ‘near-field’ technology to make the payment. Tapping the device or bringing it briefly near a payment terminal will log the purchase.
For Tims, the move is all about getting customers their double-doubles faster – Starbucks’ app has been shown to drastically cut down on lineup wait times.
“Mobile payment is one area that we feel can help streamline the average time spent at the order counter,” David Clanachan, the company’s chief operating officer said in a release.
For now, the roll-out of the new payment method for iPhone and Android users is limited to the Niagara region in southern Ontario and select locations in Maine, Michigan, New York and Ohio. BlackBerry users will be able to make mobile payments at select Canadian locations.
Experts have suggested for years that cellphones will eventually replace credit, debit and loyalty cards as the primary means of in-store payments through apps equipped to securely connect to user accounts.
Tim Hortons is one of the first major Canadian food retailers to make that a reality.
A list of participating stores can be found here, or if on road trip in Maine, here.
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