News

Starbucks will serve up the Web, too

March 31, 2002

HOUSTON and SEATTLE - Soon, customers of Starbucks Coffee Co. with wireless enabled computers will be able to browse the Web while they sip a cup of Joe, thanks to a deal just signed between Starbucks and Compaq Computer Corp.

The deal, announced yesterday by Compaq, is worth approximately $100 million over five years, said Martin D. Nott, a senior public relations manager for Compaq. Leigh Morrison, vice president of West region, Compaq North America, and her team negotiated the agreement, said Nott.

Starbucks named the Houston-based computer manufacturer, a Fortune Global 100 company, as a preferred information technology infrastructure provider for its retail stores and corporate headquarters.

Compaq will install wired and wireless networking using its equipment in about 70 percent of Starbucks stores. Compaq will set up coffee shop networks in Dallas, Seattle, San Francisco, and New York by the end of this summer, Nott said. Starbucks has more than 4,100 retail locations in North America, the United Kingdom, continental Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim.

Starbucks customers will browse the Web with PDAs such as the Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC.

Wireless for the wired

The new networks aren't for Starbucks point of sale systems only. Customers will be able to go wireless while they get wired. Using their own wireless-enabled devices, perhaps laptops or personal digital assistants (PDAs) such as the Compaq iPAQ, customers can browse the Web while sipping a capaccino.

Starbucks' wireless network will be configured to allow guests to use it to connect to the Web. Wireless networks work just like office local area networks, only they broadcast data over a radio frequency. Computers that have a wireless networking card, essentially a networking card with an antenna, can participate in the network. It's likely Starbucks will tailor clients' Web browsing with local information, such as movie reviews, Nott said.

Details TBA

The two companies haven't ironed out all the details. Starbucks will eventually include merchandising, including the sale of Compaq brand iPAQ PDAs.

Compaq designs and manufactures hardware and software, including enterprise computing solutions, commercial desktop and portable products, and consumer PCs. It sells devices in more than 200 countries.