In August, Starbucks partnered with Square to offer mobile payments in over 7,000 locations across the US. You’ve heard the buzz, but what’s Square all about? And what is a “mobile wallet”, anyway?

Mobile wallets store debit, credit, and loyalty cards on your smartphone, allowing for “one click” transactions similar to shopping online. Mobile wallet technology is getting ever more real – and the Square/Starbucks partnership has the potential to drive massive consumer adoption.  Research firm Gartner believes there will be a $617 billion mobile payments market by 2016, up from $171.5 billion this year. The opportunity is huge for whoever can crack the code.

A slew of digital payment offerings have appeared in the marketplace:

• Google Wallet: Upload any debit or credit card to Google Wallet on your Android device, then tap your phone to a payment terminal at checkout – payment completed. Available offers from participating merchants are automatically redeemed, and loyalty rewards accrue. Try it at: American Eagle Outfitters, Duane Reade and Sunoco.

• LevelUp: Similar to Google Wallet, but available on iPhone and Android devices. The LevelUp app displays a unique QR code for merchants to scan at checkout. Discounts and loyalty rewards are built in. Try it at: Various locations in select cities including Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis and New York City.

The drawback of Google Wallet and LevelUp is their reliance on NFC (near-field communication) enabled phones, which currently represent only a fraction of US devices. It’s expected that 1 in 5 smartphones will be NFC-enabled by 2014, but won’t be truly mainstream until 2016. The new iPhone 5 does not include NFC, to the dismay of many.

This brings us to Square:

• Pay with Square: Device agnostic, without the pesky trappings of NFC. Store the payment card of your choice, and Pay with Square shows you participating merchants near you. Click a button to open a tab, then place your order. Tell the cashier your name, and you’ve paid.

Similar to mobile wallets, digital wallet technology allows you to pay without pulling out your phone or wallet:

• PayPal: Link your PayPal account to your mobile phone number and set up a PIN. Your payment information and loyalty card programs live in the cloud and follow you wherever you go. Merchants who accept PayPal let you pay by entering your mobile phone number and PIN in a keypad at the point of sale.  Try it at: Home Depot.

And further down the rabbit hole, Apple has entered the arena with a mobile wallet offering of sorts:

• Passbook: The recent release of iOS 6 heralded Apple’s Passbook, a slick mobile wallet sans actual payments. Scan your phone to check into a flight, get into a movie or redeem a coupon. Passbook is time and location enabled, so passes and tickets appear on your lock screen when and where you need them - which is huge because you don’t have to have the app open for appropriate offers to be served.  The drawback, however, is that Passbook doesn’t allow you to pay with your phone, so you’ll still need to break out the billfold. Try it at: Target, Starbucks and Fandango.

Has your head exploded yet? Get yourself a cup of coffee and come on back.

The trouble with mobile payments lies in the platforms. There is currently no global solution that is accepted across all phone platforms, retailers and banks; everyone is scrambling to find a comprehensive solution.

Last month, a group of leading US retailers (including Target, Wal-Mart and 7-Eleven) formed the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), dedicated to the formation of an integrated mobile commerce platform that will replace wallets with smartphones. Like many other mobile wallet platforms, their solution will also offer exclusive discounts and loyalty rewards:

“MCX will leverage mobile technology to give consumers a faster and more convenient shopping experience while eliminating unnecessary costs for all stakeholders,” said Mike Cook, corporate vice president and assistant treasurer, Wal-Mart. “The MCX platform will employ secure technology to deliver an efficiency-enhancing mobile solution available to all merchant categories, including retail stores, casual dining, petroleum and e-commerce.”

This sounds great in theory, but nothing has actually happened yet. The good news is that MCX already has huge brands on board, which scales the hurdle of retailer adoption. Time will tell.

Back to Square: Starbucks has their own mobile payment app, and processes over 1 million mobile payments a week. Square will extend Starbucks’ current mobile payment offering by allowing consumers to pay with their phone using any debit or credit card (the current app feeds off of reloadable Starbucks gift cards). How does this play out in the real world?

In practice, the Pay with Square app was easy to download to my iPhone, and took about 5 minutes to do the initial account setup (contact info, input bank card, upload photo). I hit the streets in search of a caffeine fix. While Starbucks is not yet up and running, the app showed me several local coffeehouses that accept Square. I chose my destination and clicked “open tab to pay”, then placed my order. Square gave me the option of leaving different tip increments prior to completing the transaction – a nice touch. Drink in hand, I said my name to the barista, who verified my face matched the picture on his iPad, and I was on my way. Another nice surprise was the $1 discount I received for my first Square purchase.

The process was seamless, and I felt undeniably cool. And yet, while my wallet stayed nestled in my bag, there was still some phone wrangling to be done. Was it any easier than handing over a card to be swiped? The jury is out. The value definitely comes into play when discounts and loyalty perks are automatically applied.

While Square makes sense for coffee shops and smaller businesses, I don’t see it scaling to my massive weekly grocery haul, either. Small business seems to be the sweet spot for this technology.

For now, I look forward to paying for my pumpkin spice latte with the push of a button. And when there is a global solution, I’ll happily ditch my scores of loyalty cards and coupons and wave my phone with glee.

Who do you think will win the mobile wallet wars?

Follow Diane on Twitter: @walterama.

The really compelling feature of Pinterest is the innate voyeurism of the experience; each collection of images represents a peek into someone’s dream closet. Boards are more than visual filing cabinets – they are wish lists, to-do-somedays, and catalogues of all the things we love. A digital window into your soul.

Pinterest, which has cracked the top 10 social networks, can revolutionize the way we plan weddings, celebrate milestones (new babies, birthdays and holidays), keep track of all of our “stuff” and even help to do some digging on new hires.  While  Googling a potential candidate is common practice, HR can now also check Pinterest to learn more about an individual. (Tip: think twice about curating a “My Firearms” board.)

Some brands are already getting in on the game. Brands that will win followers on Pinterest will engage people by taking them behind the curtain, showcasing the individuals that make up the brand and posting content that is irresistibly sharable. There is huge opportunity for recipe-centric brands (all that pretty food porn), fashion and home décor. Although, anything that can be photographed is fair game. Attention, Nutella brand managers: there are scores of pinners who really, really like your product.

How else can brands take advantage of Pinterest?

• Marketers can use Pinterest to discover and harness their brand advocates. People are already out there, pinning and sharing products. Brands can follow the people who pin their products, and then feed these people more of the content they want to share.

• Pinterest is a natural venue for giving fans a sneak peek at new products (and the things that inspire them). Brands can also let other pinners contribute to their Boards, allowing fans to collaborate on future products. Comments create a virtual focus group that provides real-time feedback.

• Show them how it’s done. Beyond recipes, Pinterest provides  a visual tutorial on your product – whether it’s how to change a tire on your bike, a surprising way to wear a new accessory or making pulled pork using your brand of soda. Brands can create simple infographics or collages that walk people through the steps of a recipe, process, etc.

Image source: abeautifulmess.typepad.com

• Showcase the individuals behind the brand. Brands can drive traffic to their employees’ Boards to give fans a glimpse of the individuals who make the company tick. Or create a collaborative Board on company culture, office space or local flavor. The ideas are endless.

Pinterest is growing quickly and represents a tremendous opportunity to connect with consumers. Brands can get in on the action by focusing on big, beautiful images that beg to be shared and by taking the time to curate quality boards, and connect and converse with their followers. Go forth and pin!

Follow me on Pinterest @walterama