Fresh brew for mobile business at Starbucks

The UK and coffee chain Starbucks have not been great friends of late.

Only last year, the overpriced posh coffee behemoth/indispensable dispenser of proudly brewed diverse coffee and other beverages regarded the UK as a rather skinny decaf latte in terms of business prospects.

Now in terms of recent Anglo American insults this was not quite on the scale of Obama's gifts of DVDs for the PM or a 'personalized' (sic, or would that be zic in the land of the free?) iPod for HMQ as clear revenge for us sending them the Beckhams. Or maybe Elizabeth Hurley. But the hot water that Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz found himself in with his frothy comments in clearly scalded.

But in yet another example of the magic that Obama government is spreading across, Starbucks has clearly changed tack with the unveiling of a relationship with BT to provide Wi-Fi across its more than 650 coffeehouses in the UK and Ireland.

The announcement is intended to allow the 4.6 million BT broadband customers--presumably business users and not those spending a fair amount of their weekly dole money on a frappuccinno to make slightly better their impoverished existence in a country going to the dogs--and BT Openzone users to email, surf the internet or make VoIP calls at Starbucks. O2 iPhone users will also have access included within their contract, and millions of customers from iPass, Boingo and other BT Openzone roaming partners will also be able to use the service.

It's all about wanting to 'amplify stores as must-go location' (sic, you betcha), explained clearly venti expressod Robert Teagle, EMEA IT director Starbucks. "At Starbucks, we are continually looking for new ways to develop our in-store offerings for our customers, and this new relationship with BT, provides an enhanced customer experience."

In what probably wasn't intended as an ominous indication of BT's real estate strategy Chris Bruce, CEO, BT Openzone added, "Starbucks is the perfect place to work or catch up over email. Use of our Wi-Fi doubled last year and coffee shops are increasingly popular as a third place to work or log on to the internet. We're constantly looking to boost the choice of places to connect - where people want it."

Fresh brew for mobile business at Starbucks

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