Rather amazing news coming out of Seattle today, after years of losing business and alienating us so-called digital nomads with its stupid T-Mobile partnership, Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) has announced it’s switching to AT&T (NYSE: T) for wifi and that
“it will give customers that use its Starbucks purchase card two hours of free wireless access per day.”
Well, duh, Starbucks. Even the cook from the Pequod should have figured this one out by now (*).
The next big challenge is for Peet’s (Nasdaq: PEET) to have any wifi connectivity at all. Much to my amazement, I’ve talked with the manager of the Peet’s here in Boulder, Colorado and he says his hands are tied, he cannot offer wifi due to corporate policy. This is the same Peet’s that watched its business stolen by Starbucks while it refused to offer seats and tables in its cafes. I mean, people don’t want to actually spend time in a cafe, do they?
Tip o’ the hat to my Twitter pal Janet Meiners for bringing this story to my attention too.
(*) This is pretty convoluted trivia. Anyone get it? 🙂
Wasnt the cook on the Pequod named Starbucks (from Moby Dick)?
Frank Starbuck is the first mate on the Pequod. The cook is actually named Fleece. An explanation of how Stabucks came by it’s name can be found here http://productnames.blogspot.com/2006/09/how-was-starbucks-named.html
Dazbog Coffee (a Colorado company!) has free wifi, and good beverages besides.
The catch? There is no catch. Okay, you do have to ask the barista for the WPA password, and they consider it bad manners for a person to walk in, sit down and use their wifi without making a purchase.
Their website (http://www.dazbog.com/stores.html)shows a location near you at … umm … well, [insert mild expletive, indicating frustration and disappointment]. Nothing in Boulder. nevermind.