For those of us who have repeatedly whipped out our credit cards to pay $9.95/day for Wi-Fi at a Starbucks, good news at last. The ubiquitous coffee house chain and AT&T are kicking off today the nationwide roll-out of free Wi-Fi service for qualifying AT&T high speed Internet and Wi-Fi customers as well as Starbucks cardholders, i.e. customers who buy the store's gift-card (worth it just to get the free Wi-Fi.) Plans also call for AT&T Wireless customers to get the gratis Wi-Fi service at some point.
By May 1, 7,000 Starbucks locations will offer the free service, with nationwide rollouts continuing through 2008. As good as the news is for AT&T customers, Starbucks could use any sales jolt the new initiative will bring. The coffee retail innovator warned yesterday that its fiscal Q2 08 profits will be lower than estimated and that it is backing out of one key non-core business -- Starbucks Entertainment.
Cynthia Brumfield at 11:40 AM|Comments(0)
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