Four months after making its in-store Wi-Fi free, Starbucks is now using that connection to give away premium content from the Wall Street Journal, Nickelodeon, Apple's iTunes and others. If you are connected to the in-store Wi-Fi, you're on the Starbucks Digital Network and can get this stuff for free.
The network was built in partnership with Yahoo. At launch, here are some of the key "premium" content providers:
WSJ.com - In the store, it's as if you're logged in as a subscriber; subscriptions cost over $100 a year.
New York Times Reader 2.0 - A Web app that reads like a newspaper, and normally requires a subscription.
iTunes - In addition to "Pick of the Week" downloads, there will be featured music and videos available (to keep) for free. (iTunes is also the "click to buy" content provider for books and other stuff available on the Starbucks network.)
Bookish Reading Club - Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster and others will be sharing full text of new releases, and preview chapters of upcoming books.
Nick Jr. Boost - The service, which outside of Starbucks costs about $80 per year, streams full-length episodes of Dora the Explorer, Ni Hao Kai-Lan and other shows.
Zagat - Since, when you're logged into the store, you're at a known location, subscription-based Zagat can give restaurant recommendations to a dozen highly rated restaurants in the vicinity.
There are also quite a few content providers whose stuff is generally available, but not necessarily in the same formats, including The Weather Channel, USA Today, and the geographically minded social network FourSquare, which lets you "check in" from the Starbucks Digital Network's start page instead of from your cell phone.
Besides entertainment and news, there are some channels that are meant to appeal to key Starbucks demographics. Business & Careers, aimed at jobseekers and consultants who regularly work from coffee shops, includes content from LinkedIn, including a free trial of its premium job-hunting service. The Wellness channel includes content from Rodale, including stories from Men's Health, Women's Health and lesser known publications like Organic Gardening.
Obviously, there are some immediately compelling aspects to this: Browsing the Wall Street Journal is something a lot of people would do if they didn't have to pay for it, and checking out more than just a few pages of a new book makes a lot of sense, even if you don't like standing around in bookstores. And parents who want to run in for a Venti Mocha can give their kids some brain candy while they're at it. (Hey, judge if you want, but parents know that having that option is awesome.)
And Starbucks, ever conscious of the tech trends, has urged that the content be tablet- and smart phone-friendly. Not only does this mean that screens are easy to navigate with your finger, but it also means you probably won't see any messages about needing the Flash player to see a video. Yep, Starbucks Digital Network was built with HTML5 to be touch — that is, iPad and iPhone ... and Steve Jobs — friendly.
Speaking of iPhones, the myStarbucks app will now log you into the network with a tap if you so choose.
There's not a lot of downside here. If you spend a lot of time working and studying in coffee shops where there's free Wi-Fi, the Starbucks option is probably already on your list. If you like a nice break in your work, then these present some decent choices.
Though there is certainly going to be more content coming, and soon, there may never be any high-quality long-form content, like major Hollywood movies. Forget that it takes a lot of bandwidth to deliver, Starbucks may not want you streaming a two-hour movie while you slowly sip a single short latte. Still, you never know, especially given the sudden popularity of premium streaming video from Hulu and Netflix, not to mention the ongoing content partnership with Apple, which just relaunched its own streaming TV strategy.
The good news is, it's free, and rolling out nationwide now, so it's worth a try no matter what.
Source: msnbc
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