Starbucks SDN Whaa??

A while ago we wrote in approving anticipation about Starbucks re-entry into store-based media and entertainment (“Hollywood Meets the Third Place”)

That day has apparently arrived. To quote Starbucks’ 2,000+ word press release:

Serving up a collection of hand-picked premium news, entertainment and lifestyle content along with local insights and events…

The network goes live in nearly 6,800 U.S. company-operated Starbucks on Oct. 20.

Hmmm. Judging from our unscientific scan of our RSS feeds this morning (including Starbucks own blogs), media coverage has been, er, a bit spotty?

We tried a quick walk-by at a local (company-operated) Starbucks with our iPod Touch. Log-in to AT&T Wifi (no reroute to an SDN splash screen). Went to Starbucks site. Much VIA instant coffee promotion:

Fiddled around with the AppStore – nothing SDNish on offer. Downloaded the Starbucks “app”. Ha! “SDN” button in the lower left-hand corner!

Pushed SDN: "View in Safari?” Oh well, sure, why not, guess a real app isn’t ready yet… Tried viewing the movie clip on offer (“Waiting for Superman”). Oops, Flash or something, a play button with a big slash through it. Picked what appeared to be a kids game – unreadable postage stamp view of a web page (wouldn’t most SDN usage at a store be on a mobile device?). Etc., etc.

Perhaps our launch expectations are unduly conditioned by Apple- and Google-style extravaganzas, and perhaps the Yahoo! (Starbucks “media partner”) black cloud hangs a bit too heavily over this undertaking, but really??