Articles about Starbucks

Starbucks' wretched earnings report this week may unnerve fans of coffee and out-of-office Wi-Fi, but now there's evidence that keeping customers hooked for free is smart business practice that could get them over this little depression.

Take Seattle. Seattle knows coffee. Seattle knows Starbucks -- they've got hundreds, not to mention corporate HQ sitting just south of downtown. And Seattle knows no limits on its Wi-Fi craving.

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After Starbucks pleased its customers by announcing it will give away two hours of AT&T Wi-Fi access per day, former Wi-Fi partner T-Mobile took exception and has filed a lawsuit.

T-Mobile last week filed a lawsuit claiming Starbucks and AT&T colluded to offer free Internet to Starbucks customers, even though most Starbucks retail locations are relying on T-Mobile network infrastructure. That forces T-Mobile to bear the cost and burden of the free Internet offering, while reaping none of the benefit.

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Customers who buy a cup of joe using a Starbucks card will now receive 2 hours of free Wi-Fi at the ubiquitous coffee shop thanks to a new partnership with AT&T.

Starbucks is ending its six-year relationship with T-Mobile, and inking a deal with AT&T instead. Starting this spring, AT&T will be providing the Internet access at over 7,000 Starbucks locations across the United States and in the process making the Wi-Fi more attractive to customers who balked at paying T-Mobile's $10 per-day fee.

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Starbucks said Monday that it plans to give away about 50 million songs from iTunes as part of a promotion to drum up interest in its wireless music service that will debut soon.

The popular coffee shop is about to launch the feature in its Seattle and New York locations on October 2, and in San Francisco during the month of November. When browsing the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store near a Starbucks, users will be able to view -- and download -- the currently playing song as well as the last ten played.

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Coffee house chain Starbucks said Thursday it had signed an agreement with Apple Computer to make its Hear Music offerings available through the iTunes service. The company acquired Hear Music in 1999, and the agreement would set up a separate store within iTunes. The area would include playlists created by the same people responsible with programming the music heard in the company's shops worldwide.

"Millions of people enjoy the great music featured at Starbucks locations worldwide, and ask us for it by name," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "Starbucks Hear Music has been a hit with music fans and we're thrilled to add a Starbucks area to iTunes with all this great music online for the first time."

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