The holidays are ending, but Austin’s Tabbedout hopes the party will go on, and that bars and restaurants around town will let you use your smartphone to pay the bill. Today the company is launching a coupon feature within its free mobile app for Android and iPhones that connects smartphones to point-of-sale systems at participating bars and restaurants.
Users who download the app can use it to search for restaurants that use the system. Once they get there, they don’t need cash or a credit card. Instead they can just show their server a code on their phone, and their dinner bill shows up on their next credit card bill (users input their credit card number once they have the app, and the app stores the number on the phone.)
Tabbedout says its app is about security as well as convenience. The server never sees the user’s credit card, since the number is stored on the phone. When a tab is opened, the encrypted credit card information is sent directly to the restaurant’s point-of-sale system. Credit card number theft by waiters and waitresses has attracted national attention, including a Secret Service investigation in Washington, D.C., two years ago.
Tabbedout’s launch may have missed New Year’s Eve bar traffic, but it should have time to gain some traction before the next big Austin nightlife event: South by Southwest begins March 9.
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