Thursday, February 14, 2008

Starbucks Deal Brewed with AT&T Has Hints of Apple


AT&T and Apple clearly cut a deal where Starbucks benefits from becoming a digital media hub: It's going to be the place where people congregate to use Wi-Fi as part of the monthly service fee that they already pay AT&T - this wasn't announced yesterday, but it's absolutely coming - and where they download media from Apple....

It's not a leap at all that Starbucks, already a big music producer and seller, and one interested in revitalizing its business after a few years of drifting from its core coffee mission, would embrace the idea of being the place people who don't even like their coffee come to fill up on media, use the network, and hang out.
I was thinking the same thing. Apple and Starbucks are partners for free Wi-Fi access to the iTunes store for iPhones and iPod Touches. Apple and AT&T are partners for the iPhone. Not a big leap to see Apple as the common element linking AT&T and Starbucks.

How nice of Glenn Fleishman to spell out all the details for me. In fact, he provides lots of additional details about the Apple-Starbucks relationship. This looks to be a much larger initiative than any of them are letting on. Get ready to spend a lot more time at Starbucks.

Jump

No comments:

Post a Comment