November 3, 2003
As a rule, wi-fi users tend to spend more time in
Starbucks--about 45 minutes per average customer. Bob Macala, 61,
says he is at the Piper's Alley store every weekday from 8:30
a.m. until noon and then sometimes in the evenings as well. The
retired English teacher is working on a novel and poring over his
stock portfolio. He's even made some wi-fi friends, mostly other
retirees who hang out at Starbucks and trade stocks online.
Those who use the service say they like it. "The connection is
great," says Swapan Chakrabarty, 31, a graduate student and
network administrator for a software firm, who goes to the Astor
Place store about four times a week and stays two to three hours
per visit. About the only complaints from wi-fi users are that
some stores don't have enough electrical outlets.
The more serious threat to Starbucks' plan is the competition
from free wi-fi--the crazy quilt of free wireless networks
springing up in San Francisco, Seattle and other high-tech
cities. Starbucks customers have been known to hop on a free
Internet node and bypass the store's paid service entirely. "Why
pay if you don't have to?" says Kevin Lawrence, 28, a
software-industry entrepreneur, who spent hours typing on his
laptop but hadn't bothered to buy anything during a recent visit
to a Starbucks in Manhattan.
— With reporting by Kristin Kloberdanz/Chicago, Laura A. Locke/Los Gatos and Eric Roston/Washington
Page 2 of 2 1 | 2
|