Starbucks/AT&T deal to include edge servers for Apple?

Having moved to China, I really enjoy my time at Starbucks located in most big cities in China (49+ cities over a million). However, in Xi'an where I live my Starbuck's card with USD isn't accepted and there is no WiFi for the iPod Touch. I've tried out 3 Starbucks so far with no luck. I've seen more so I'm off in the search of WiFi and a grande latte.
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Glenn - you have an interesting article with a lot of good details.

I'm not buying the theory that people will congregate at Starbucks for the WIFI.

My home WIFI clocks 15mb down.

Two Starbucks in mid-town Manhattan. One Starbucks in the center of Glastonbury CT. Both clock a max of 1.2 MB.

Tell me again why I'm leaving my house to go to Starbucks for a special trip to "hang out and download".

Starbucks is and will remain a convenient portal for those on the road.

Unless they're going to bump their data rates significantly, nobody but the ill informed is going to gather there because of the ultra fast download rates.

It's a convenience store for wifi seekers too far from their regular connection. Period.

I think this is nothing more than a test of "gift card" as a payment source.

How many cards do you think people will purchase and "forget" about? I bet it's sizable.

There are balances that remain un-redeemed and this will be a source of revenue for Starbucks.

On the AT&T side of things, they need a way to offer fast 3G speeds for the iPhone model they've pre-announced.

At least in my town (Glastonbury CT) - the 3 coverage for AT&T according to their map is pathetic. It's not much better when you look at the entire state of Connecticut map either.

So in the short term expect a marketing push to convince 3G iPhone purchasers that even if there is not a current fast connection in their town - that they can always use Starbucks for *free (so long as they use a Starbucks card once per month).

Long term, I think it's a huge strategic benefit to offer seamless WIFI connection ability. AT&T has already included their WIFI service as a benefit to any data subscriber paying $60+ per month.

Ah, you mean "edge" as in a single Starbucks, and not from the Starbucks upstream to anywhere else in that neighborhood.

In the infamous words of Miss Emily Litella: "Never mind."

The whole bit about caching video seems unlikely, as I doubt the typical Starbucks has a T3 line dropped into it, and any significant amount of traffic would swamp the average DSL connection.

No, if Apple's caching then the best place to do it is in the major ISP service centers. I believe that Apple and Akamai already have a nice relationship going away...

Thanks for the link love.

I had to confirm a bit more with Starbucks about their Starbucks Card deal. The press release is rather obscure. I wound up having three conversations with them about this to get the actual details.

You must make one purchase on a Starbucks Card each month to get the free Wi-Fi for two hours per day during that month. You don't need to make a purchase that day (unless you haven't so far that month), and the purchase can be any amount.

The reason there's so much confusion is that they weren't ready to "message" this issue, surprisingly, so they didn't have fact sheet on it. They were focused on the bigger stuff, and plan to have full details and restrictions available before the launch.

Really, this means spending $1 to $2 per month if you don't otherwise purchase anything in the stores on a regular basis to get 2 hours per day during that month. Cheap.

On the EDGE/edge thing, I know I'm on the edge when I talk about edge servers not EDGE servers, but it's a good point. The network is always more powerful on the edge; that's why Apple invested in and uses Akamai, which is an edge-to-the-ISP server group.

Which means, Apple already has a tech investment in a company that knows how to replicate content "close" to each set of users.

So that would seem to imply there are computer systems in Starbucks locations nationwide that have copies of copyrighted music files. How does the RIAA feel about this?

Will they be using Xserves for this purpose? This seems like a perfect fit for these elegant and hassle servers.

How many folk in any given Starbucks outlet are actually buying tracks in store to download onto their iPhone/iPod touch at any one time? I'm probably not the best judge of this kind of thing (I buy those CD things that used to be so popular), but I can't believe it's the kind of volume that requires dedicated servers caching 4Mb music files.
That's a lot of investment for the presumably very limited slice of iTunes revenue they're receiving.

IMHO, Starbucks should offer FREE f'ing WiFi, just like Panera, etc.

I fully realize that this is not an inexpensive proposition for ATT and Starbucks. But complicated and/or expensive access for customers is just not going to have much appeal for the average person. If Starbucks wants to reinvigorate their business (which isn't doing too well, if you haven't been following the company), free WiFi would be a great way to do it.