Apple and Starbucks agree to wireless music deal

iPod users will be able to buy music from Apple's wireless iTunes music store while they're at a Starbucks store -- and won't need a T-Mobile subscription to do it. (To do anything else on the Internet, Starbucks customers will still have to pay for Internet use.) The service will debut at more than 600 stores in New York and Seattle on October 2, then expand to other markets. (Reuters | Associated Press | Apple Store)

Comments

[Vicki Verona]

I cant express how excited I am about all of the Apple announcements today.

First off, the new ipod touch is essentially an iphone minus cell phone capability which I don't mind AT ALL. I am totally fine with having my blackjack in my right pocket and my ipod touch in my left pocket. I'm only going to get an iphone if they put 3G data service on it. EDGE is way too slow to get "the real internet" on your phone.

Secondly, as a partner, I only pay $15 a month for tmobile hotspot. So this is going to be amazing for me to be able really get full capability of the ipod touch.

And think about this partners....how many times has a customer come up to you during your peak rush and asked you to get them the name of the song playing??

Well (and depending on how strict your SM is about having cell phones in your pocket while you're on the floor) you can just pull out your ipod touch and it will tell you whats playing!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHH I LOVE APPLE AND STARBUCKS!

[JW]

The touch is a waste of money...you get more memory with the 80gb and 160gb regular iPod. I would love to have a iPod Touch...but give me 80gb for the same price. Starbucks should make their wireless free or at least a 5 bucks an hour w/o the T-mobile junk.

Is that discount on Wifi a T-mobile thing, or is it available to partners in Canada, too? Because here only DMs or nonretail partners get free wifi.

[Tim]

I hate to draw the topic away from what was intended, but as a huge fan of Apple products and a true-blue Mac user, through and through, I can't say I'm very happy with the redesign of the iPods.

Though I suppose, like the new iMac, that it will grow on me. I just don't like that they've toyed with the classic interface of it, and also that they've rushed through a redesign only six months after releasing the new 80GB iPod upgrade.

If someone asked me what was playing I would tell them to turn around and look at the thousand dollar flatscreen on the wall, rather than reaching for my ipod.

[rekzkarz]

Starbucks
-- everyone knows if you color in the coffee holder with a green market, you can change it to F*CK OFF, I F*CK OFF, or even F*CK COFFEE

I think this is far more important than iPods, iPhones, or Starbuck's corporate crack drinks.

Then again, I recently saw a figure that the USA military has killed over 900,000 Iraqi people in this Iraq war (or should we say rush to steal Iraqi oil in a hostile takeover). (That's not including the 1st war or the 'oil embargo' crackdown which supposedly killed millions of Iraqi children.)

So who cares about the iPods when WWIII has begun?

[Steve Jobs]

Um. I do. Duh. Didn't you watch my keynote address, young man?

[STARBUCKS GOSSIP webmaster]

REKZKARZ -- Here's a suggestion: Leave this site and go to a WWIII-related site.

[kristen]

So they are only going to offer wi-fi for the purpose of downloading songs but not free wi-fi for your own personal computer use?

[STARBUCKS GOSSIP webmaster]

KRISTEN -- That's correct. Starbucks is holding onto the 1990s model of charging for Internet use.

[Anonymous]

This would prove that Starbucks' previous foray into Hear Music is a failure. Like I've said before, Starbucks CD sales vs. iPod MP-3 market....is very lopsided.

It shows that Schultz is kissing a$$ to the iTunes market, acknowledging that iTunes knocks Hear Music down many pegs.

And think about this...Using T-Mobile's network using the iPhone, as I've heard from a blog, could upset AT&T's market. So there's that conflict of interest.

I remember Starbucks tried to build a hybrid record/coffee house in the west coast as a test market. What happened to that? It probably died out. The future lies in Wi-fi (or wi-max) using portable devices to download music. iPod touch won't be the only device to do it..but I think other wi-fi based mp3 players will do the same as well. It's going to follow the trend.

Starbucks is truly holding onto an old business model of using T-Mobile to charge for internet access which needs to be dumped and they're holding onto CD sales.

So truly Hear Music is a joke compared to iTunes. That's my opinion.

Someone mentioned about Starbucks selling iPods...that's probably not a smart thing. It would go against their CD market. And I doubt the iPod Touch would be sold in Starbucks. Maybe the nanos as an entry level or enticing deal. If they go MP-3, they will have to dump the CDs.
Plus, selling iPods there would detract the focus away from.....coffee and the quality of the 3rd Place.

[Danielle]

Anon..
I think the Hear Music Store in Santa Monica is still open. Plus, we have new Hear Music releases almost every month... its not exactly dead!

[Bladerunner]

A thousand dollar flat screen? Yes I saw one of the up near Seattle. And we can't even get a 2nd coffee display in our store. But people love to stare at TV screens. Wish coffee was still the priority. And I do wish we had free wi-fi. I don't have T-mobile account. Nor do I wish to purchase one. I have another carrier that I'm happy with. A General Strike has been called for September 11th . Don't work, don't go to school, don't buy anything.
http://www.strike911.org

[HAS BEAN]

aren't we locked into that t-mobile contract for some time to come??

i have another question, what about cities that have "gone wi-fi", does that mean even though the rest of my city has free wi-fi all over I can't access it in my store? (probably a dumb question, i know)

i can see the average customer not giving a crap about this whole deal anyway..

[short drip]

Anon- itunes is about getting music.

Hear music is more about "music development / production and new artists.

While you can download music at the Starbucks Hear Music Cafe, that is not the foundation of the business.

Just a friendly FYI

[Pat Nerr]

Bladerunner... I saw the flatscreens in my local store here... That's rich. What would $1000 in labor get the stores vs. a flatscreen to tell you what music is playing? Starbucks is funny... and not in a good way.

[Andybarista]

well actually thats not that much labor.... and do they really cost $1000? They also do serve a legit purpose... I dont know how many times someone had to leave the floor and break our flow to see whats playing all the waaaaaaaaaaaaay in the back.

[Andrew Koyfman]

We here in Boston feel cheated. OK, we are smaller than NYC, but holding the music rollout till late 2008?

Here's one reporters take on this:
http://www.xconomy.com/2007/09/07/apple-and-starbucks-to-boston-drop-dead-when-it-comes-to-music/

[Des]

I'm not too sure about HearMusic being a dead entity. At out store, anyway, we sell CD's like proverbial hotcakes. I think it helps that our partners are always buying up what they listen to at work. They get excited about the CD and pass that excitement onto the customer.

I know this has been discussed endlessly, but I think it's about time that we come out of the stone age of charging for wireless. SBUX is kind of being wishy-washy here---no free wireless, but free wireless songs? I'm not sure I understand the logic behind this. The only thing I can come up with is that it takes a lot shorter amount of time to download songs than it does to use the internet to conduct business or write a research paper.

[shadow5]

Starbucks has never and will never see a penny from me, my family nor my friends. First with the "record label" and now this? I wouldn't step foot in one of their holes even if they were giving away free coffe and free music all day and all night. Whatever happened to, I don't know, making your own coffee? At least then you're assured that it was prepared by someone who actually gives a shit.

Oh and Vicki, the "real internet" works just fine on the EDGE network.