Starbucks founder, Chairman and CEO Howard D. Schultz said mobile payment and mobile commerce is going to change the way in which consumers buy things, and he said Starbucks was the number-one company not in the U.S., but in the world, in terms of mobile payment, transactions and dollars.

Schultz was speaking last week at a post-earnings conference call with Wall Street Analysts (transcript on Seeking Alpha).

Almost 4 million people hold the Starbucks Card, the CEO stated, and one of every four people are buying with the loyalty card. The success of the card is partly due to the seismic change in consumer behavior as a result of the recession - there is a significant amount of pressure on the consumer in terms of value, and social digital media has become a primary vehicle to gain access to information, Schultz said.

Starbucks has also been able to balance the premium pricing of Starbucks, while creating value. And he credited social networking sites Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare for lowering the cost of customer acquisition compared to traditional advertising, which also enabled it to "build a more enduring emotional relationship with our customers."

(Hat tip to Scott Loftesness.)