Starbucks and Apple launched their iTunes partnership Tuesday in Seattle and New York, but in at least one of its 600 debut locations, the program started with an off note. Some early glitches combined with a regrettable technology decision caused a few hiccups for what could be a promising service.
The Apple-Starbucks iTunes offering will work for anyone with an iPhone running the recent 1.1.1 software update, iPod Touch, or computer running a recent version of iTunes. When those users are in a Starbucks, they're able to see what song is currently playing in the store, see recently played songs, and access the entire iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store -- a subset of the iTunes Store.
It's an intriguing notion in theory -- who hasn't wandered into a Starbucks, heard a catchy tune, and wondered who the artist is and how you could get your hands on a copy? In practice, however, things didn't go smoothly on this first day. Here's an account of my Starbucks-based iTunes Wi-Fi Store experience.
Opening day jitters
Neither Apple nor Starbucks planned media events in either Seattle or New York to mark the launch. So I went to a coffee shop in the University District near the University of Washington, one of several locations in close proximity. I fired up my PowerBook G4, an iPod Touch on loan from Apple, and my iPhone. The iPod Touch connected to the T-Mobile network -- Starbucks' Wi-Fi partner -- and, within the iPod's iTunes application, showed a new Starbucks button in the lower-left corner.
I was able to see the current song and the last songs played -- until my connection was lost. The Wi-Fi network still appeared operational, but the iTunes store was unavailable on any of the devices I had with me. The T-Mobile HotSpot network also appeared to be unreachable. Typically, you connect to T-Mobile's "tmobile" network, and, when you attempt to load any Web page, you're redirected to a login gateway page. That page never appeared.
I asked a friendly barista if the network was down, and he said that the service might be available by noon, but that I should "check back next week, too." The barista said other stores in Seattle were also having trouble Tuesday morning. This is rather a technology black eye. With only 600 stores included in the launch, I would have expected a combination of site visits and testing to provide the kind seamless launch one associates with Apple services.
As part of my coffee purchase that morning, I was handed a download card for Bob Dylan's "Jokerman"" The displays were obviously already ineffective, as the baristas were hiding the cards not in the card display slot on the front, but in a different area in the back. Apparently, people must already have been snagging multiple cards, even though they're only good for a single, specific song. The picture of Bob Dylan looked rather like the love child of Prince and Vincent Price -- not a great image to pair with the network failure.
A little later in the morning, I returned to the same store, and the iPhone and iPod Touch could now connect. This time, however, the T-Mobile Wi-Fi network still seemed broken -- still no gateway page -- and iTunes on the PowerBook couldn't connect, either.
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