Starbucks Japan lets customers pay with a pen

Starbucks Japan has launched a new pen-shaped digital wallet called “Starbucks Touch The Pen” allowing customers to buy their coffee without taking out their wallets.

The pen’s design resembles a drip coffee machine and comes in three colours – black, silver, and white. The new cashless-payment device is run by NFC (near-field communications) technology through FeliCa chip and contains “coffee brown” gel ink, meaning it works as a digital wallet and has the same function as a normal pen.

Starbucks’ Touch The Pen will cost ¥4000 (US$37) including ¥1000 preloaded credit when it is available to purchase online next week.

Before The Pen, the cafe chain had three other digital payment models including The Drip (a key fob), The Cup (a phone case) and The Hug (a keyring handbag).