Starbucks is now serving more than just coffee.
They are adding free books, news and entertainment to their new digital network. Starbucks is now promising some perks such as free access to paid Web sites like The Wall Street Journal. The idea behind all the free stuff is to get customers spending more on drinks and through the site.
According to the Associated Press, the move comes as Starbucks faces steep competition from McDonald's and other fast-food chains that are pushing fancy coffee drinks, but also gives a chance for Starbucks to make more money from the site where people linger for the free wi-fi, which saw 30 million log-ins just last month.
This new network strategy is a partnership with Yahoo. The other partners include iTunes, The New York Times, Patch, USA Today and Zagat.
But there is a catch-- Most of the free content can only be read or viewed in Starbucks. This will either have customers buy the content so that they can take it with them, or requires more and frequent trips to Starbucks.
