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Apple Explores Delivering Location-based Content to Mobile Users

Aeolius said:
Part of the Starbucks "experience" is the interaction and banter with the cashier and barista, as you order your drink.
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Is that what they're calling it now? An "experience" with a cashier/barista? It's a cup of coffee, not a first home. I guess that is how they can justify the pricing. They should change their slogan, "A buck for the joe, $4 for the ambience".

Nothing personal, but this kind of consumerism is going to be the death of us all. Wal-Mart FTW!
 
BOSS10L said:
Is that what they're calling it now? An "experience" with a cashier/barista? It's a cup of coffee, not a first home. I guess that is how they can justify the pricing. They should change their slogan, "A buck for the joe, $4 for the ambience".

Nothing personal, but this kind of consumerism is going to be the death of us all. Wal-Mart FTW!
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Yes, Wal-Mart is the cure for consumerism... :rolleyes:
 
Free iPhone WiFi @ Starbucks + Wave-pay + femtocells

A bit of pure speculation ... I would not be too surprised to see Steve Jobs inviting AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz on stage at WWDC to announce free WiFi for iPhone users in all Starbucks. Free WiFi makes it easier for iPhone owners to order their coffee via this ap and to use wave-pay (pay via their iPhone) to complete the transaction.

To make this process even easier, Starbucks may be installing femtocell devices in all starbucks. AT&T has apparently contracted to buy 7,000 femtocells (or so the story goes). AT&T may also be a conducting a femtocell trial "later this year."

http://idannyb.wordpress.com/2008/02/11/femtocells ...
http://wireless-watch.com/2008/04/25/att-femtocell ...

via ThinkPanmure: AT&T signed a contract with the firm for up to $500 million in femtocells over the course of five years, and will sell the devices for as little as $100 each.
 
Starbucks printing order on my cup!

I think this makes sense now. All the SBs in Phoenix have a sticker printed and stuck on your drink. Looks like it's already automated and ready for me to order from my iPHone :)
 
FiveMonkies said:
I think this makes sense now. All the SBs in Phoenix have a sticker printed and stuck on your drink. Looks like it's already automated and ready for me to order from my iPHone :)
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Eh, thats nothing new. The printers have been around for the longest and majorily used for locations where the registers are far enough away from the bars that the person on bar has trouble hearing a drink call from the register.
 
koobcamuk said:
They're more likely to ask;

"Daddy, why did you keep driving a car when you knew about Global Warming?"
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Well, in that case I show them my (by then) old car and they'll understand and experience all the facets of jealousy. :D

*just kidding*
 
bgoudelo said:
Maybe some baristas don't give a crap but I can tell you that's not how they all are. I've worked at Starbucks for 5 years and I still care and give my customers a quality beverage every time.

P.S. - Not trying to start an argument but someone has to stick up for us baristas! :)
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And kudos to you for that.

In Birmingham (UK) there are something like 7 Starbucks stores dotted around the city centre and out of those, I'd say there was one store that had staff that really make coffee as good as they possibly can with Starbuck's roast and do seem to pride themselves in their work. The rest of the stores produce coffee that's average at best.

That said, the environment is more condusive to sitting and relaxing than most other coffee chains in the city so I still use Starbucks but I tend to keep my order simple.

And I don't have a problem with people working in coffee shops in general. I've been there myself in the past. :)

Back to the topic though... I love the idea that I'll be able to sit down and order from the comfort of an armchair in Starbucks but I'm just not sure I can see it working in reality.
 
Great, further depersonalization and alienation in society. Why not have robots serve the coffee? Or simply invent a vending machine that makes an average cup of expensive coffee. A whole line of dispensers, like tube ticket machines, could be lined up in front of zombies who have already squirted their orders from their iPhones - they would simply need to walk up and collect. Unlocking the glass in front of the dispensed coffee by auto Bluetooth to make sure some other bugger (who deserves rightly to die) doesn't steal it.:rolleyes:
 
saminsocks said:
This would be a lot more useful to me if it didn't just rely on proximity. If I want to order a takeout meal from a restaurant, by the time I'm in range of their Wi-Fi I'm close enough to go in. For it to be a real benefit I would want to be able to order so that it's ready when I get there. I don't mind human interaction, I just don't like waiting.

The only time I've ever carried on conversations with the people in Starbucks was when it was across the street from my job, and some of them interned for me, so I hung out with them and their co-workers outside of Starbucks, too. Otherwise, I may have had small talk about the weather, but even that happens rarely, even with the nicest of barristas.
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You could always use it as a phone and call them to place your order.
 
saminsocks said:
This would be a lot more useful to me if it didn't just rely on proximity. If I want to order a takeout meal from a restaurant, by the time I'm in range of their Wi-Fi I'm close enough to go in. For it to be a real benefit I would want to be able to order so that it's ready when I get there. I don't mind human interaction, I just don't like waiting.
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Whichis exactly what I can do. I live in Japan and here I can just access the (for example) MacD's page, order my meal and tell it which outlet i will collect at. It gives me an order number. All I have to do is show my phone to the staff and they give me my meal, it gets billed to the phone. I can buy rail tickets, pizzas, theatre tickets and pretty much most other things the same way.

Even a coffee, but not at Starbucks!
 
People who think themselves to be Coffee connaisseurs and will step foot in a starbucks for anything other than cake, cookies, or a new mug ought to be ashamed of themselves.

If apple were to put a starbucks application on an iphone (which someone couldn't remove) how is this any different from adspace on websites, or carrier branding etc?

Seriously...

http://www.shotbro.com/blog/?p=937
 
jonny said:
People who think themselves to be Coffee connaisseurs and will step foot in a starbucks for anything other than cake, cookies, or a new mug ought to be ashamed of themselves.
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But then you way the pros up with the cons... like refusing to drink an instant coffee from a friend makes you look like a bit of a d1ck.

An Americano won't kill me so I'll "suffer" for an arm chair and a feeling that I can stay an hour without being lynched.
 
nomad01 said:
But then you way the pros up with the cons... like refusing to drink an instant coffee from a friend makes you look like a bit of a d1ck.

An Americano won't kill me so I'll "suffer" for an arm chair and a feeling that I can stay an hour without being lynched.
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Point well-taken. :) I mean it's better than a lot of the other chain alternatives (see crappy drip/instant coffee), however them being allowed to call the 'coffee' that they put into their beverages 'espresso' should be illegal. imho :p
 
jonny said:
Point well-taken. :) I mean it's better than a lot of the other chain alternatives (see crappy drip/instant coffee), however them being allowed to call the 'coffee' that they put into their beverages 'espresso' should be illegal. imho :p
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Yeah I'll agree with you there. And it does make me laugh to see people even bothering to order an espresso at Starbucks. If they can drink that, they aint no connoisseur.
 
BOSS10L said:
Is that what they're calling it now? An "experience" with a cashier/barista? It's a cup of coffee, not a first home. I guess that is how they can justify the pricing. They should change their slogan, "A buck for the joe, $4 for the ambience".

Nothing personal, but this kind of consumerism is going to be the death of us all. Wal-Mart FTW!
Click to expand...

A cup-of-joe (drip coffee) is $1.77(Tall) to $2.00(Venti), not $5 like you and most people say. By the way, I've been to mom and pop coffee shops and they are priced the same as Starbucks or sometimes even more expensive.

So back to the topic, I could see people without iPhones getting a little PO'ed during rushes if iPhone people just swoop in and get their drinks before the 10 or 15 people in line waiting to pay.
 
zync said:
How did it get so big there then? You don't have to live in Seattle to know that their coffee sucks. They even admit to burning it. It smells horrible in Starbucks too, like they're killing the beans.

Many of you guys (not talking about you SPG, you restored my faith in Seattle) are all competing about how friendly your "barista" is. You must have never been to a real coffee shop, ones that appreciate your business, and don't call their employees "baristas." Maybe I'm spoiled too. I can get café con leche in the morning if I want it, but then again I live in Tampa and work in Ybor City. Unfortunately I don't really have the time or the desire to get it :)
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Not sure how it got so big here, maybe the rainy winters, but it is bigger than big here. Starbucks, Seattle's Best, Tully's, all started here. Now there are a bunch of local "mini chains" that are really good like Ladro, Vivace, Victrola, Herkimer, Diva, etc... The competition keeps them good. Even the Starbucks in Seattle proper are better than your average Starbucks.

As far as the friendliness of the baristas and the "experience", YMMV and you have to realize that it's just like going to a bar. You can sit at home with a 6 pack of budweiser for $5 or you can go to the bar and pay $5 for a pint of microbrew. Some bars have mean bartenders but friendly patrons, others the opposite. You need to make the effort to find the one that suits you.
Me? I have a very nice Illy espresso machine, a good burr grinder, and a friend who manages a roasting operation here in town.
 
bgoudelo said:
A cup-of-joe (drip coffee) is $1.77(Tall) to $2.00(Venti), not $5 like you and most people say. By the way, I've been to mom and pop coffee shops and they are priced the same as Starbucks or sometimes even more expensive.

So back to the topic, I could see people without iPhones getting a little PO'ed during rushes if iPhone people just swoop in and get their drinks before the 10 or 15 people in line waiting to pay.
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Yeah, that's just a cup of joe. If you get a cappuccino, latte or whatever (I don't drink any of that stuff), I'm sure you probably do edge close to $5 when all is said and done.

My point being that even at $2 a cup, it is too overpriced. People will whine all day long about paying $4 for a gallon of gas, but don't think twice about a their decaf-lowfat-all froth-sprinkled with cinnamon-latte and croissant for $7 every morning.

Here's the deal. What is attempting to happen is for each of us to have as little actual interaction as physically possible. Order and buy via iPhone. Scan bar code (and subsequently accept charges and pay) via camera on iPhone, walk out, not looking up at all while we're checking our e-mail and electronic news. Assembly line consumerism, the best kind there is. And we're all clamoring for it.

I'm no Luddite, quite the opposite actually, but it seems with each successive iteration of technology, the less intelligent and impersonal as a people we become.
 
macwall said:
Starbucks coffee is like Bose speakers. It's all in the marketing.
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Thank you, very well put. I can't tell you the breath I wasted trying to explain to my father how much of a waste of money those Bose speakers are, but he didn't want to hear it. Never mind that I'm a Home Theater enthusiast and did years of research before I bought my first component. My wife thinks he did it just to be argumentative, and she's probably right, but it is his money, I guess.
 
Aeolius said:
"Because daddy tried to curtail the larger source of global warming; cows. Unfortunately, daddy can only eat so many of them."
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GOLD!! :D

On a side note:
I can't remember who posted it earlier but the Home Auto-motion page here was pretty interesting. If Apple was able to develop the location based system to allow stuff like this it would be pretty cool, it would actually encourage/enable people to get outside and see people... maybe even their local Starbucks Barista ;o)
 
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