Starbucks wiped from Apple's site, but what does it mean?

Fresh off an extensive corporate decaffeination downsizing and a scaling back of its foray into music sales, 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? We just happened to notice that the Starbucks page on Apple's site is now stone-cold gone, redirecting to the standard iTunes 8 stuff. You might say "no big deal, Apple's just playing down an agreement that's now been in place for a full year," but there's some other weirdness, too -- the company's iTunes WiFi Music Store at Starbucks FAQ, for example, still references the dead link. The partnership was kinda ill-conceived to begin with; getting access to the store meant hooking up to AT&T WiFi, which you wouldn't normally have configured unless you actually had an AT&T WiFi account. We haven't heard any official word here that the deal is in danger, but really, would anyone be welling up if it fell apart?

[Jon @ Oct 8th 2008 11:16AM]

AT&T Wifi allowed access to the apple site and store without authentication and without an AT&T account. It still worked great this morning too.

[Flashpoint @ Oct 8th 2008 11:38AM]

It means...

take your latte and your iphone and your Prius and GGGGEEEET OWWWWT

[captainpease @ Oct 8th 2008 11:59AM]

@ Flashpoint

A latte is a delicious beverage. The iPhone is a phenomenal device. The Prius is an efficient car.

So what's the problem here?

[who? @ Oct 8th 2008 12:29PM]

Flashpoint is a hick who would have us all go back to the dark ages. That counts as a problem.

[Steven Ryland @ Oct 8th 2008 12:32PM]

because all of those items basically require you to be rich...

[bolezhinkov @ Oct 8th 2008 1:29PM]

its not so much about being rich or the quality of the items. its about the people who use them, thats what he is getting at my friends.

[GON @ Oct 8th 2008 1:38PM]

@ captain

Smug.

[fanman @ Oct 8th 2008 2:02PM]

@Captian

They're all owned by pretentious people who think they are better because they cost more and are over hyped.

[Mel @ Oct 8th 2008 11:20AM]

iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store at Starbucks FAQ

That link just worked. I just checked it, and refreshed as well

[Chris Ziegler @ Oct 8th 2008 11:21AM]

Right, but the link in the first question says its going to take you to a list of participating locations, when in fact it just redirects you to the iTunes page.

[Mel @ Oct 8th 2008 11:23AM]

Ahh sorry, you are correct. :-)

Thanks for the info. Really wondering what's going on? Not that I have ever used it. Can't imagine many people ever did. With Shazam for iPhone now, it's of no need :-)

Mel

[MadMike @ Oct 8th 2008 11:21AM]

Never used it. I walk into Starbucks, get my coffee-flavored coffee, pay and then leave. I don't hang-out in Starbucks, I also don't pop my collar, spike my hair and listen to rap.

[bob sakamano @ Oct 8th 2008 11:23AM]

Congrats, want a scone?

[telepheedian @ Oct 8th 2008 11:26AM]

OM NOM NOM

[CraigJ @ Oct 8th 2008 11:32AM]

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/145365

[sinai @ Oct 8th 2008 12:48PM]

your starbucks has coffee flavored coffee? my starbucks tastes like burning.

[Leindurstit @ Oct 8th 2008 11:22AM]

iCoffee. It's gonna be huge. Killer app.

[Joe P @ Oct 8th 2008 3:09PM]

Would anybody put it past Apple to open up a chain of trendy coffee shops?

[CraigJ @ Oct 8th 2008 11:23AM]

Well, it could be a number of things:

Starbucks is having issues, they just closed 700 (I think) corporate stores. Although I can't imagine this would be costly for them to roll out.

AT&T on the other hand can't seem to get their shit together with the wi-fi for iPhones that we keep hearing about.

My guess would be that Apple is getting a lot of inquiries about this not working and they pulled it temporarily, because AT&T lacks the basic skills to get it implemented properly.

[Jesse @ Oct 8th 2008 11:58AM]

Umm...I've been using the free AT&T Wifi for Starbucks customers for several months.

If you have registered Starbucks card (or a Duetto card), you can get up to 2 hours of free Wifi a day.

Works fine on my iPod Touch.

[CraigJ @ Oct 8th 2008 12:21PM]

No. The free wi-fi that iPhone users were supposed to get that kept showing up and getting pulled from AT&Ts iPhone page. I don't want no stinking cards.

[SteveJ @ Oct 8th 2008 11:23AM]

The idea was ill-conceived, for sure. For one thing I don't think 99% of people had a clue about it and there were never any signs as far I as I ever saw, to inform people about it. If you didn't know about it you would never think to try it and if you tried to use the web you were only confronted with the proposition to sign up/buy time. No mention of the ability to use the iTS for free. I can't imagine they ever had many people using it. It could have been done better had they had something on that initial login page noting that you could use the iTS for free. Even then, though, I doubt it would have gotten much use.

Having said that, I found it handy for my iPod touch while on vacation in OC Maryland this past summer. We'd go to Starbucks in the morning and I'd check out the AppStore while there. It was a way to feed my addiction since we had no wifi at our beach rental. I never bought any apps there, though, because at that time we had 2.0 firmware with it's ridiculously long install times. It was impractical to install an app while we waited for our drinks. I was only able to install anything when we stayed in, and then it was just updates and/or free stuff.

[bob sakamano @ Oct 8th 2008 11:28AM]

I feel like the whole purpose of what you just wrote was to brag about your beach rental in Maryland, and I have to say I am quite impressed, you have come a long way SteveJ.

[ChiWax @ Oct 8th 2008 1:00PM]

I think they assumed that iPhone/iPod users are all very well-iformed. This is a horrible assumption that dealers make about their addicts/customers...Q

[Christopher Kalanderopoulos @ Oct 8th 2008 11:23AM]

I think it is fir to say that the Apple/Starbucks iTunes deal was more of a proof of concept service than it was a feature meant to truly influence people to buy an iPhone/iPod touch. The idea of hearing a song and being able to find out the song and download it immediately is now easily trumped by apps such as Midomi or Shazam (surprisingly, they allowed these apps which essentially mirror the function of the Starbucks agreement, but anyhow) which function to do the same thing, and then link to the iTunes store anyway. Granted, they don't work nearly as often, but the point is that Apple may not see the point in keeping the Starbucks relationship going.

Also take a look at the fact that Starbucks has been on decline for the past 8 to 12 months, with a massive stock drop of over 50% and huge layoffs across the country and in Australia, not to mention closing stores here and there around the globe. Apple may simply not want to be associated with the company given that it is on the steep end of a down-turn in the economy. In a recession, the first things to be cut are the luxuries like Starbucks coffee (in exchange for something like Dunkin' Donuts or something cheaper), not to mention the fact that fewer and fewer people are going in there for a $3 cup of coffee and a $1 iTunes track they happened to hear and LOVE when they got there. In this economy, it is costing Apple a lot more to keep the deal running and they are clearly trying to dissociate themselves from any economic downturn.

[iEye @ Oct 8th 2008 11:41AM]

How about people learn to make coffee at home?... are people that incompetent these days?

[WarMouse @ Oct 8th 2008 1:59PM]

Shorten your name.

[r3loaded @ Oct 8th 2008 8:03PM]

$3 for coffee? Starbucks is minimum £3 for coffee in the UK! :O

On the subject of iTunes + Starbucks, the whole idea was idiotic in the first place. Who buys music as soon as they hear it, over coffee?

[fred @ Oct 8th 2008 11:26AM]

"The partnership was kinda ill-conceived to begin with; getting access to the store meant hooking up to AT&T WiFi, which you wouldn't normally have configured unless you actually had an AT&T WiFi account. We haven't heard any official word here that the deal is in danger, but really, would anyone be welling up if it fell apart?"

I'm sorry, I just read all of the back stories about this, and I haven't seen where you guys in the past found this to be "ill-conceived".

What, now because you are hedging that Apple is dumping them, that you feel safe to now say how dumb you thought the idea was?

[Chris Ziegler @ Oct 8th 2008 11:30AM]

Read the frickin' backlinks, please. That's all I ask. The very first one you clicked on would've read something like this:

"...you should be warned it's not half as neat as it sounds."

[anjowskee @ Oct 8th 2008 11:39AM]

And I care, because...?

[swingin' dick hero @ Oct 8th 2008 11:53AM]

You don't, now piss off.

[Mattazuma @ Oct 8th 2008 11:44AM]

Starbucks was interested in this deal because of the their record label, Hear Music. Now that they have sold the label to Concord Records, selling music via itunes isn't so important to them.

[Zak @ Oct 8th 2008 11:52AM]

It means I still don't care about Starbucks.

[Eric @ Oct 8th 2008 12:09PM]

Well, the way it was supposed to work was once you connected to your local Starbucks wi-fi (attwi or tmobile) - you didn't need to logon to access the itunes store and one of the buttons on the itunes creen was the Starbucks icon which would feed you the last ? 10 songs played in the store and current one playing.

And you'd have full access to the rest of itunes to search/buy.

I thought it was a good idea, particularly the what's playing now - if you enjoy your drink in the store, you might stumble across a couple of neat tunes that would be easy to get.

Unfortunately, none of the stores in the San Diego area have this feature working yet -- the Starbucks icon shows up and but I cannot access the store music info -- I can access the rest of itunes though, so it works partially.

Originally the announcement said it'd be rolled out everywhere (US ?) by the end of 2008 -- hopefully they'll make good on it.

And hopefully, AT&T will allow free wifi access on it's network (Starbucks and others) for iphone users without requring the use of Starbucks card being used or loaded 2x monthly. That'll take some of the load off their 3G network which clearly is not built out enough for all these new 3G users.

[matt merritt @ Oct 8th 2008 12:06PM]

In fairness to Starbucks, the stores that were closed aren't representative of any tough times at the metropolitan stores that would be considered the Starbucks Coffee core market. Most of the stores that were closed were just poorly placed - namely their M-customer count was worth the price of maintaining a location.

While it is true that the company's stock has had as much capability to stay airborne as a brick of lead, as a shareholder and a partner I see the downsizing as nothing but prudent - there is no reason to waste money on stores that don't see customers. Especially if the same customers that are passing up more suburban locations are still going to the more urban locations on their way to/form work or on breaks. My store, which is in South Philadelphia, has actually seen an increase in customers over the past few months. Mind you, our actual average income has gone down - which I attribute to people not wanting to pay $2.09 for a 20oz coffee considering the current market (hell, even I don't wanna pay that, and I get a 30% discount).

I digress, however, and leave you with two things to mull over - 1) Howard Schultz and Steve Jobs probably get along very well, considering their inability to admit mistakes or make changes and 2) The company is trying many things, however expensive, to get more people to come into the stores that are still open - and company literature has the AT&T deal and the iTMS deal being big selling points for getting customers to hang out.

I'd like to say one more thing, as well, purely from the standpoint of a rather disillusioned Starbucks employee. The stereotypes about Starbucks customers are just that - stereotypes, and are fairly childish.

[Jon @ Oct 8th 2008 12:08PM]

This is kind of odd. Starbucks gives out free iTune song redemtion cards at the counter. Just because I like free stuff I've grabbed these numerous times and redem the song immediately thanks to this free iTMS access. The only 2 problems I see with the implementation is 1) the Starbucks section of the iTMS doesn't seem to work on my iPhone (flickers and is unresponsive) 2) Once I join the network with my iPhone, I can no longer use the Safari because the phone thinks I'm connected to a WIFI, when in reality I am but it doesn't allow access to anything with an account. The latter is more of an iPhone issue, but still they should have offered a solution to that problem beyond turning off WIFI.

[Eric Taylor @ Oct 8th 2008 12:12PM]

And yes, they should promote it more -- I really only knew about it from watching the Jobs presentation which it was first announced.

[patriotsn1 @ Oct 8th 2008 12:17PM]

A recent report shows that Starbucks wastes 10s of millions of gallons of water a day... Maybe apple is planning on rolling out some kind of "green" campaign and association with Starbucks wouldn't play kindly?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1771553.ece

[NuttyBars @ Oct 8th 2008 12:25PM]

I'm fairly sure that the iTunes was powered through T-Mobile -- because it predated the AT&T rollout (at least here in BUFU NJ).

However, it is kind of a pain in the neck because if you would go to Starbucks and access their network just for iTunes -- the rest of your phone functions like web and email wouldn't work (because they didn't have access -- only iTunes did). So it's easier to just never connect to the Starbucks WIFI if when already have 3G or Edge anyway.

[Sherwin @ Oct 8th 2008 12:50PM]

I'm sitting at a Starbucks in Manhattan now and it's working perfectly both on my MacBook which is logged into the AT&T WiFi and on my iPhone which has WiFi but not "logged" in.

Also, I think it's misreported that you have to be logged in to use this feature. You just have to connect to the AT&T hotspot which can happen automatically.

[michaelportent @ Oct 8th 2008 12:56PM]

I just don't really think Starbucks has gotten behind the feature fully. I bought an iTouch several months ago, and I have the Starbucks Card member WiFi deal with AT&T - been to several Starbucks locations around Seattle and I've only seen the icon pop up once, at one specific store.

[Justin @ Oct 8th 2008 1:02PM]

At my starbucks they've removed the DVD/CD spindle that they used to have. I think starbucks is going to try and concentrate on coffee and food right now.

[Ben @ Oct 8th 2008 1:35PM]

This has never worked in Chicago, either, despite being promised for late spring of this year at the latest. The last few times I've been there, too, previewing and purchasing songs on the iTunes store is disabled on AT&T wifi, thought it's totally browsable. Weird.

[Squid7085 @ Oct 8th 2008 3:20PM]

I would venture to guess there was some Apple/Starbucks/AT&T/T-Mobile based conflicts that have lead to the whole system not being rolled out properly. I don't see why its that hard to do, but go figure, thats how corporate stuff works. Its pretty common of Apple to pull something that isn't working out the way they expected, only to make their own version later... iCoffee shops anyone?

[BOGRASH @ Oct 8th 2008 3:46PM]

FUCK STARBUCKS

[Andy TGD @ Oct 8th 2008 6:26PM]

Wow, that was constructive...

[Kevad @ Oct 8th 2008 6:03PM]

Well, not that this has much to do with the Apple and iPhone interaction with AT&T WiFi, but it does with Starbucks and AT&T, I just got this e-mail with link from AT&T.

http://att.jpdmi.com/pm/2008/issue83sep/018272/2_w/dsl.html?GUID=EF9C02C2-A871-49D5-9A8C-F4CB69237CA2;27B5D36F-47C5-49D0-A6BC-2A2FBD0BF5D3

http://consumer.att-mail.com/cgi-bin11/DM/y/nfH20PL8sV0FNw0BIaU0Eu

[ssoltero @ Oct 8th 2008 6:58PM]

Don't care about the WiFi connections at Starbucks. Never did, never will.

[Unknown @ Oct 8th 2008 7:16PM]

You never had to be a paying WiFi customer as was said here, http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/07/apple-and-starbucks-itunes-wifi-integration-hands-on/ :It's all done behind the paywall. And the AT&T wifi is basically free now.