SEATTLE-- On July 1, Starbucks will turn on one-click, free WiFi through AT&T in all of its U.S. company-operated coffee houses, chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz said at Wired magazine's Disruptive by Design conference on Monday. Building on the WiFi update, Schultz also revealed plans for a new online customer experience called the Starbucks Digital Network, in partnership with Yahoo!, which will debut later this fall.
Currently, first-time WiFi users in Starbucks locations now get up to two hours free after registering, but then must purchase [image-nocss] additional time at the rate of $3.99 for two consecutive hours.
This new online experienceavailable only in U.S. company-operated Starbucks storeswill allow customers free, unrestricted access to various paid websites and services, exclusive content and previews, free downloads, local community news and activities on their laptops, tablets or smart phones.
Launch content providers will include, among others, iTunes, The New York Times, Patch, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! and ZAGAT.
Driven by Digital Ventures, a new business unit within Starbucks led by CIO and general manager of Digital Ventures, Stephen Gillett, the Starbucks Digital Network opens up a "uniquely valuable" customer experience, while at the same time appeals to leading online content providers and offering a new channel for customer engagement, the company said.
"Free Wi-Fi is in my mind just the price of admission. We want to createnew sources of content that you can only get at Starbucks," Schulz told conference attendees, according to a Wired report. "This is a thing that doesn't exist in any other consumer marketplace in America."
McDonalds has free WiFi, as does just about every other coffee house in the country other than Starbucks, said Wired. Schulz admitted that both of those stratas have been competing with Starbucks on coffee as well as Internet service, with McDonalds stealing bargain-oriented customers and boutique independent coffee shops in urban areas grabbing some of its loyal epicures.
But none of Starbucks' direct competitors have their own localized content networks on the level of what Schulz described. In some communities, Starbucks functions as a sort of community centera "third place" between home and the office, in Schulz's wordsand this infusion of local news and information, along with a free way to get it, could enhance that effect, said the report.
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