Starbucks addicts in Japan now have a more stylish way to pay
Starbucks Touch The Drip is a designer tap-to-pay key fob that works with the coffee purveyor's current payment system.
Tap-to-pay key fobs, those gadgets you dangle off a key chain and wave or tap over a payment device to debit from a linked account, are nothing new. But they're usually ugly, functional-looking plastic thingamabobs. Not in Japan, though.
Starbucks there teamed with clothing designer Beams to offer a leather-clad fob for fashion-first Starbuckians. This Starbucks card replacement isn't cheap at ¥4,000, that's about $35, £28 or AU$47. And it looks kind of huge to me.
It's hand assembled, at least per the Google translation of the site. Although the translation also says "enjoying the taste of leather," so [insert joke here].