SEATTLE - Since the U.S. debut of its mobile-pay application 15 months ago, Starbucks has registered more than 42 million payments, Venture Beat reports. The application for iPhone and Android allow customers to load money on a digital Starbucks card and pay with a 2D barcode at the register. The app is also now available in the United Kingdom and Canada. Starbucks recently expanded to allowing drive-thru customers to pay with the app.

The program, which is simpler than near-field communication payment systems, such as those accepted by Google and Isis, has been extremely successful for Starbucks. "You??re going to see us as a company that will push the envelope around mobile pay," said Adam Brotman, chief digital officer. "We want to innovate in that area before others catch up."

Mobile payments are part of Starbucks??s 10 core digital businesses. "Howard [Schultz, our CEO] noticed that over the past several years, there has been a real seismic shift in the way we interact with our customers through digital," said Brotman. "There has been such a seismic shift that we needed to pull it all together and make it priority."

Other companies are exploring with mobile payments, such as Nordstrom??s and Cumberland Farms. On the other hand, banks are increasingly searching for ways to stay competitive in the mobile payment market.