Starbucks is wiped from Apple's site. What does it mean?

The Engadget site says it's a fair question to ask: just how ironclad is Starbucks' commitment to rolling out iTunes WiFi Music Store integration across its entire chain? Engadget editors noticed that the Starbucks page on Apple's site is now stone-cold gone, redirecting to the standard iTunes 8 stuff. I suspect the company has shifted its priorities. Anyone from corporate care to comment? || Starbucks wiped from Apple's website 



Comments

[kgs]

nobody on the ever dropping sbux stucks? come one i am sure it must have hit some body in the pockets.

it was hanging around 14 for some steady time and now just over 3 days its down to 11.53

[JT]

Maybe it means that Starbucks has realized that the itunes tie-in is a pointless distraction, just as the music stores were, and that they do not want to pay-to-play in the music business anymore.

[Jim Lane]

I think it is a good idea for Starbucks to drop out from Apple/iTunes. When I went to iTunes for a free download, iTunes wanted all my credit information. Whatta crock of BS.

[tomokun]

@ Jim Lane

If you're giving your credit information to iTunes for claiming a free song, you're doing it wrong. I've been using iTunes with my apple ID for 5 years, and I have not once paid with a credit card, and apple doesnt know my credit information.

[dan]

"I think it is a good idea for Starbucks to drop out from Apple/iTunes. When I went to iTunes for a free download, iTunes wanted all my credit information. Whatta crock of BS."

You might wanna let mommy and daddy download the song for you. Obviously the technology is above your head.

Trust me, this has nothing to do with a dissolving relationship between Apple and SBUX.

It reflects the decision we took as a company to re-prioritize our focuses and limit our entertainment business to just 4 albums per promotion and the itunes free songs. With limited offerings like that, there was no longer a need to have a page dedicated to Starbucks, especially since we no longer have Starbucks Entertainment as part of our brand.

[FOCUSonCOFFEE]

Thank Goodness... music and coffee are not a perfect match like peanut butter and jelly, pork and beans, bacon and eggs.

[SSC Hasbeen]

And yet, many of us who are no longer with the company are the same ones who challenged the emphasis on Entertainment and the "Apple alliance" in the first place -- seems we "lacked vision".

(sigh)

[b]

Or maybe Apple doesn't want to advertise a feature that hasn't quite been working properly in the last two weeks... Go to your nearest attwifi sbux, open the wifi music store on your iPhone, touch the starbucks icon and see what happens.

[Aaron]

This definitely seems to fit with the focus of late on trying to re-prioritize. Not that overall we've done a good job at that goal. Vivannos? They were good, but that's not focusing on the coffee.

[JW]

There's still a link in the iTunes store... just saying.

[The ASM]

The link is not all together gone. We still have free downloads. We just don't need a page of of the music that we dont even play in our stores anymore. I still like the music at work, however I do miss a lot of the music we used to have. Though I do hope that we can keep the Glam pt 1 & 2 around for a while. Nothing better than Queen & David Bowie @ 4:30am!!!!

[StarbucksBarista90]

Yeah, whenever I use my iPhone during my break the Starbucks icon doesn't work in iTunes; it used to work before. It looks like it's having a seizure cause it blinks rapidly. The now playing thing never worked for me either. Nor did the "last ten songs played". I was able to use the non-starbucks part of iTunes though.

[Joe Gogar]

Watching Starbucks crumble from the inside...

[snagger]

Off topic but I just noticed that "Pour Your Heart into It",Howards book,that runs as a side Amazon add on this website can be bought for 74 cents down from 85cents a few mins ago when I hit refresh.

[Tim]

kgs, I don't know if you noticed, but it's not just Starbucks' stock that is devaluing at the current moment...

[ShiftyinNV]

"Though I do hope that we can keep the Glam pt 1 & 2 around for a while. Nothing better than Queen & David Bowie @ 4:30am!!!!"

Don't you love hearing "Suffragette City" rip through the store? It fills me with unalloyed glee :).

Anyhow, I'm pretty happy that the music focus isn't going to disappear altogether. It's something I like about Starbucks. I'm actually glad the rack is no longer there though, it made the store more cluttered and also I worried about shoplifting during busy times. Just a few CDs near the counter is a much better idea in my opinion.

[Me]

I've had the same problem as Jim Lane had. Are you in Canada? Is it possible this is a canadian problem? Maybe I should ask my 5 year old daughter to help me out on this one. I really don't want to give out my credit information to someone like apple, if I don't intend to buy something.

[GRTL]

Off topic but advice needed. I have been sent to other stores to cover shifts without my prior agreement to it. While I find this not really respectible to me as an employee, the worst part I have faced is that three times now the stores I have been sent to have "lost" my tips and instead of correcting the matter make it my responsibility to call back them and ensure they won't forget out of next weeks tips. It also means additional driving/walking time to any locations. This is really very frustrating. Is there someone I should discuss this with. I feel disrespected.

[Tiny]

Hey, has anybody heard about Tim Hortons putting in the right amount of caffiene into there drinks and Starbucks putting too much? Let me knowm, thanks

[Nerfebarista]

GRTL, i would start with your SM/DM as this issue is called theft.

[Coffee Soldier]

We've sold more cd's in the past week with the 4 featured cd's at the counter then in the past month off the rack...I like the new smaller focus....it's much easier to manage/watch for theft/and to know about when a customer asks my oipinion.

[Coffee Soldier]

off the old rack I meant to say...Sorry!

[Me]

Hey Tiny,
if anything, there is more caffeine in Tim Hortens Coffee than in Starbucks coffee. The longer you rost the beans the less caffeine stays in it. Since Starbucks coffee is usually a darker (and therefore most of the time longer) rosted coffee it has less caffeine.
But you do not "put" caffeine in a coffee. It is naturally part of it. So if Tim hortens doesn#T water their cofee down they have a tiny bit more caffeine in it than Starbucks. But who would drink that stuff anyways???

[not just sbux]

It's not just Starbucks that has taken a huge nose dive...the entire stock market has pretty much crashed. The dow closed under 9000.

[AT&T = huh?!]

Does anyone know when the actual start of free wi-fi in Starbucks locations will begin for iPhone users? This started prematurely twice before and then was abruptly stopped. AT&T tried to blame Starbucks and I believe it was ultimately AT&T who flipped the switch too soon. Would be interested to know if this is actually going forward or if it was just yet another good idea that was dropped.

[Jim Lane]

I'm in SoCal.

jim

[MrWho]

I noticed that that site was gone a few weeks ago. Thankfully, the Starbucks Partner-discount Apple Store is still running smoothly.

http://store.apple.com/us_epp_346557/

[givemeabreak]

Starbucks got a little too pompus (suprise, suprise). Howard was too busy trying to be a rock star (braging to NY Metro Region, how Bono visited his house). Meanwhile, the company was plumeting to the ground. Starbucks could never get their arms around the music industry & Apple realized this. Howard MUST go!

[Liz]

I don't know if this has to do with anything, but I work down the street from Apple HQ in Silicon Valley and rumor has it Howard was in town a couple days ago.

Im in a Starbucks right now, connected to AT&T wifi, and when I opened my iTunes, it automatically went to the Starbucks Entertainment Page on iTunes.

The site still exists, but maybe what they've done is be more specific in targeting people already at Starbucks because they are more likely to purchase something right after hearing something they like.

[Melody]

@givemeabreak - Humility is quite a virtue. Did your mother ever say to you that 'when you toot your own horn, the notes come out flat' LOL - True, maybe Howard has had moments of being sucked into the glamor of rock-star association, and the wave and feeling of a high that goes with that. Not virtuous at all. Hopefully Howard also knows the lesson about humility. It's a lesson we all learn over and over again in life.

But that doesn't mean Howard isn't making good choices. I'm sure all CEOs have their weaknesses - but Howard Schultz seems to be under microscope more often than not. Probably no other CEO has more of a celebrity-like mystique than him.

Starbucks does have huge problems right now, but the news of unemployment (my own office is about to go through a blood-letting and it is totally stressful times), banking crisis, stock market across the board crashing ... this are way beyond Howard's ability to do anything about.

Howard is quite the target.