Take a look in your wallet or purse or handbag and see just how many cafe loyalty cards you have crammed in there. How many of them have you ever gotten that long anticipated free latte or six foot sub with? How many of them have three little punched out circles before you lost them or lost interest?

A new iPhone app developed by Australian stockbroker Patrick Schilling is designed to change all this. The Wealie is a replacement for what Schilling estimates is 18-20 million loyalty cards that are made and discarded every year.

The Wealie app is used by scanning a special QR code into the app every time they purchase something at a favourite cafe. It is now being used by about 45-50% of Sydney merchants, and 85% of those said they had it referred onto them by a customer – so take that as your cue to mention it to your favourite cafe the next time you're digging through your bag for your loyalty card!

The Wealie app has been a great success thus far, with one cafe owner claiming that it has brought his profits up by about 20%. Additionally, it has a wonderful environmental benefit around a process that has produced so much waste.

The app is free for customers, and costs $10-20 a month for retailers.

If you want to get in on the smartphone app action, have a look at some of the plans available for some of Australia's favourite smartphones: the Apple iPhone 4S 64GB, the Apple iPhone 3GS 8GB, or, to try something different, the brand new HTC Velocity 4G.

To talk about new plans for your current phone, or if you're wondering how to sign up for a plan that will include a new phone, give us a call on 1300 850 518.