Starbucks does have a enticing reward platform but what they also have is the ability to fill your account using your credit card. So they only have access to as much money as I'm willing to give them and from the exact source that I want. What does it matter to me if I use my cc at Starbucks 5 times or put the same amount of money into my starbucks account to use later.

So what? Before Apple entered the market with the iPhone, Nokia was the master of mobile phones.

Forget Starbucks... the master of mobile payments is Safaricom's M-PESA.