Double Latte With Extra Internet: Starbucks To Offer Free Wi-Fi

Starbucks is partnering with AT&T and Yahoo on new initiatives, including free Wi-Fi and new content offerings that could result in customers spending even more time in the company's coffee shops.

Starbucks Coffee Company said on Monday that the company will work with AT&T to offer one-click free Wi-Fi service in all its U.S. company-operated stores.

The new Wi-Fi service, slated to start on July 1, is aimed at helping the company find ways to tie the coffeehouse experience with social and digital media, said CEO Howard Schultz in a presentation at WIRED's Business Conference.

Starbucks is also working with Yahoo to create the Starbucks Digital Network, a new offering which will include new content, free downloads, and local community news and activities.

Also included will be unrestricted access to a number of free and paid sites such as The Wall Street Journal, iTunes, The New York Times, and USA Today.

The Starbucks Digital Network is slated to debut during the Fall.

“Free Wi-Fi is in my mind just the price of admission -- we want to create … new sources of content that you can only get at Starbucks. This is a thing that doesn’t exist in any other consumer marketplace in America,” Schultz said during his presentation, according to WIRED.

Schultz noted that other coffeehouses, along with companies like McDonalds, already offer free Wi-Fi, and that Starbucks' primary difference will be its own local community content.

While both services will be offered free-of-charge, customers will have to log into the Wi-Fi and Starbucks Digital Network with a unique identifier. Starbucks will know who the customer is, but not where the customer currently is located, and will potentially allow targeted messaging to help offset costs, Schultz said.

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