Hot cup of Apple
I'm thoughtful about Steve Job's announcements yesterday regarding changes to the iPod line. There were three significant points: They're dropping the price of the iPhone by $200, introducing a wi-fi enabled touch screen iPod and have made a deal with Starbucks to allow free wireless access to the iTunes web site while in the store to enable the customer to buy music.
I suspect that the most significant is the third part, although if I had run out and bought the iPhone for list two months ago, I would undoubtedly be furious about yesterday's price drop. The Starbucks deal seems like a big thing, although the future is still a little hazy. The possible mash-ups between Apple and Starbucks are endless...buy songs while drinking coffee, drink coffee while cruising the web, the list goes on. Seriously, the next generation of significant Internet presence will arise, IMHO, from the interstices between the "real" world and the "virtual" one. And nothing says real like a hot cup of Starbucks.
Prediction: In the next year, Starbucks accepts micropayments from an iPod for purchases. You heard it here first folks.
Posted on September 06, 2007
