Apple and who?
I’m not going to launch into a full-fledged Apple fanboy post here. Yes, Apple made some noise yesterday. Yes, they released the long-awaited iPod Touch. Yes, they pissed off somewhere near 1 MILLION of their most loyal customers by slapping them with a $200 "early-adopter" fee on the iPhone. But that’s not what I want to talk about. 
I want to talk about one of my favorite companies…Starbucks (notice the seething sarcasm here) and the asinine decision that Apple made to partner with them. In case you haven’t heard, when you walk into Starbucks with your shiny new iPod Touch, a new button featuring the Starbucks logo pops up on screen. This nifty little "feature" will show you the last ten songs played at that Starbucks and gives you quick access to purchase those or any other song from the iTunes store without having to pay Starbucks for wifi access.
Let’s examine this…first off, it’s bad enough that Starbucks doesn’t just offer free wifi already. Heck, the NYC Parks Dept. has managed to offer free wifi. Second, and more importantly, what exactly is the end user getting out of this partnership? "Woohoo, I can spend money on iTunes while I sip my over-priced coffee!" That’s not a benefit. Sorry, but giving me the opportunity to spend more money on your products isn’t giving me anything at all. And if you’re not giving me something with a feature, then don’t bother including it. Apple, you of all companies should have this hard-wired into everything you do. In fact, you used to, but this is a pretty good sign that you’re slipping. Talk about a venture aimed to doing nothing other than sucking more money out of your consumers.
Now here’s a novel idea: if you’re not going to offer free wifi in general, how about unlocking that neat new feature and giving me free wifi on my iPod Touch? At least then I’m enticed to spend some time in Starbucks. Then I can accomplish something online while I’m sitting there - even if it’s just entertaining myself. Oh, and I’m willing to bet that since I’ve already got my iPod out and connected to the internet, I’ll probably go ahead and take a look at what songs you’re playing.
No, that would be too logical. Too giving. Instead, I’ll just crank up my iPod and completely ignore your music. And your nifty little Starbucks button. Or I’ll go across the street to the local coffee shop that does have free wifi. Or maybe I’ll take my iPod to the park.
Technorati Tags: beyond madison avenue, starbucks, apple, ipod, ipod touch
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Totally agree. Totally underwhelming. Buuut, what about putting the internet in millions of pockets with the iPod Touch? This is major. It’s gonna change the way that we shop, the way that we choose how we want to be entertained. Bringing Internet Everywhere to the mass!
http://www.thetrendwatch.com/blog/2007/09/06/the-future-is-already-in-my-pocket/
No doubt Olivier. That is definitely big news.
I just figured it’s been covered pretty much everywhere at this point, whereas the starbucks partnership is a bit of a thorn in my side and hasn’t been talked about so much. There’s no question that Apple is continuing to trounce all over everyone else in terms of innovation. Who else is taking the same steps toward making user-friendly all-in-one type products for mobile tech life?
Now if they’d just get rid of the Cingular partnership, I’d be a lot happier.
I totally agree with this… but do think about the tech behind it and other uses - like when this functionality becomes more widespread. nightclubs. your cable box. The ballpark. Concerts. Then I could see it being pretty awesome. It *is* nifty tech, even if their starbucks-only implementation is useless.
I’m reasonably cynical about the quality of content we’ll see from the forthcoming union of Starbucks and Apple.
My first reaction was to rush off to an anagram generator, merge the brand names and come up with the fabulous “Paperback Sluts”, possibly an indication of future developments from Starple or Appbucks?
My second reaction was to redesign the logos and strap. You can see it and other musings here.
Excellent post. Apple is indeed slipping, but not as much as Starbucks. The lack of free Wi-Fi now borders on ridiculous. The Satbucks in Downtown Greenville makes you pay for Wi-Fi even though a) the city offers it for free AND b) the Subway across the street (yes, Jarod’s favorite fast food joint) also offers it for free.
The Starbucks experience has been diluted and no longer offers anything "sexy." (It has become commoditized.) Walk through any airport, and try not to cringe. The urban stores aren’t much better. There’s nothing new going on with Starbucks. The brand has stopped surprising and/or delighting. Why do people still go to Starbucks? Because they probably don’t have a better/cooler/hipper alternative.
Absolutely Olivier. Starbucks did an amazing job back in the 90’s of creating their brand, but they’ve now reached the point that they’re simply milking it for the cash-cow that it is. They made the transition from hip, experience-driven shop to one-on-every-corner blah-ness. I think they simply chose to suck the money from it rather than keep the experience authentic.
Take a look at Scott Bedbury’s book "The New Brand World" for an interesting look at how Starbucks became the brand that it is.
[...] In preparation for the launch of their upcoming partnership with Apple, Starbucks will be giving away free music downloads from Oct. 2 - Nov. 7. Before you get too excited, no, you can’t wander into a Farbucks with your shiny new iPod Touch and start a downloading frenzy. Employees will be handing out gift cards each day that will allow sippers to download one free song, the song of the day (no, you don’t get to choose) by a Farbucks featured artist.It’s estimated that the 10,000 US stores will give away 1.5 million songs per day for a total of more than 50 million songs over the course of the promotion. Given that those songs would usually cost a buck per download, someone’s shelling out some serious dough to get people excited. There’s just one problem with this. The hype is that you can now go into a Starbucks and download music on your wifi equipped iPod. This promotion has nothing to do with that though. We’ve been able to buy music at Starbucks for quite a while now, albeit on CD. Shouldn’t a promotion for a service that’s all about shopping iTunes AT Starbucks encourage people shot shop iTunes…AT Starbucks? I know, call me crazy.Technorati Tags: beyond madison avenue, apple, starbucks Sphere It [...]
[...] Beyond Madison Avenues Danny has one of the better mixed critiques of Applegate . Not only is he upset with the price retraction, but Apples deal with Starbucks seems to warrant «www.beyondmadisonavenue.com»: [Ц] Yes, Apple «www.engadget.com». Yes, they released the long-awaited iPod Touch. Yes, they pissed off somewhere near 1 MILLION of their most loyal customers by slapping them with a $200 early-adopter fee on the iPhone. But thats not what I want to talk about. [...]
[...] Beyond Madison Avenues Danny has one of the better mixed critiques of Applegate . Not only is he upset with the price retraction, but Apples deal with Starbucks seems to warrant «www.beyondmadisonavenue.com»: [...]