Of course The Onion has its own theories, and I, for one, welcome Phase Two of the plan, especially if edge servers, moonbases and secret volcanic lairs are involved.

I’ve seen a surprising number of people at HPU walking around with iPod Touches and iPhones.

Call me old-fashioned, but I like to talk to the people at the counter. Helps me feel more social and less isolated, as I mentioned back on 5 August 2006.

They know me… and I use cash. I do have a Starbucks card, which is convenient if I need to use it.

If Starbucks wanted to make the mobile phone were the physical token for a payment, they have the customer volume and the clout to do it.

I mentioned the idea in my Modu post from 11 February 2008.

But, I’m really hoping for was this: (Gizmodo)

Because I don’t need to explain what I order to anybody and it charges my card automatically (which I already use as is). Also, I’ve experimented with the iTunes store via the iPhone and the interface is there, ready to be implemented. They could even take things one step further by having iPhone users use their iTunes Store account to pay for their drinks (seeing as how the account needs to be linked up to a credit/debit card).

And I don’t think this would be a few people, have you seen the amount of people carrying around iPhones/iPod Touch? Especially the under 30 and teen crowds. They would be the perfect market for this as they would be the market to embrace this fully.

This also would make the recent decision to use AT&T as the wi-fi provider make a lot more sense. That would also explain the decision to allow free wi-fi for Starbucks card users. Maybe you could link up the card to your acocunt on the Touch/iPhone?