Apple & Starbucks Announce Music Partnership

Apple and Starbucks announced an exclusive partnership that lets customers wirelessly browse, search for, preview, buy and finally download music from the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store at Starbucks onto their iPod touch, iPhone or PC or Mac running iTunes while at a participating location. When a customer enters a participating location, their device will automatically recognize the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store using a high-speed Wi-Fi wireless network with no connection fee or hotspot login. Customers will be able to browse, search and freely preview millions of songs, including a new “Now Playing” service which displays the name of the song playing in the Starbucks store at that moment, then easily buy and download songs or albums directly to their device. Prices and selection on the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store are the same as on the regular iTunes Store. The service will make its debut at more than 600 Starbucks company-operated locations in New York and Seattle on October 2.

“Getting free access to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store and the ‘Now Playing’ service at Starbucks is a great way for customers to discover new music,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Imagine walking into a participating Starbucks, hearing a great song, and being able to instantly download it onto your iPod or iPhone. We think this is very cool.”

“With this partnership, we’re bringing Apple’s leadership in digital music together with not only our retail footprint, but the unique Starbucks experience, to offer customers a world-class digital music experience,” said Howard Schultz, chairman, Starbucks Coffee Company. “Introducing this new service is a natural extension of our music strategy which only enhances the retail coffee experience for customers by helping them discover and acquire new music instantly.”

After its debut in New York and Seattle on October 2, the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store will continue its national rollout to 350 Starbucks stores in the San Francisco Bay area on November 7; 500 stores in Los Angeles in early February 2008; 300 stores in Chicago in March 2008; and additional markets throughout the US later in 2008.

The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store at Starbucks will run on the robust T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-Fi network which is available at participating Starbucks locations across the US.

With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as Cover Flow™, integrated podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, seamless integration with iPod and iPhone, and the ability to turn previously purchased songs into completed albums at reduced prices, the iTunes Store is the best way for PC and Mac users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.

Apple Unveils the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store

Wireless Music Downloads Directly to iPod touch & iPhone
Custom Ringtone Maker Now Built into iTunes

Apple today (actually 5 September that is.. I live in Manila that's why I'm ahead 1 day) unveiled the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, offering music aficionados the ability to browse, search, preview, purchase and download songs and albums from the iTunes Music Store over a Wi-Fi network directly onto their iPod touch or iPhon. With the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, music fans can start enjoying their music purchases immediately on their iPod touch or iPhone without a need for a PC. Once they connect their iPod touch or iPhone back to their PC or Mac, downloaded music will automatically sync back into their iTunes library. If users have only partially downloaded a song or album onto their iPod touch or iPhone, their computer will complete the download automatically. Prices and selection on the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store are the same as on the regular iTunes Store.

“The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store is really fun—you can browse, search, freely preview, buy and instantly download music right onto your iPod touch or iPhone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Innovative products like this keep iTunes at the forefront of the digital music revolution.”

Moreover, iTunes customers will now be able to create custom ringtones by selecting up to a 30-second segment from over a million participating songs on iTunes and easily sync them onto their iPhone. Once a customer has purchased a participating song from iTunes, including previously purchased participating songs, it will only cost 99 cents to make up to a 30-second segment of that song into a ringtone and easily sync it onto their iPhone. Customers can personalize their ringtones by choosing which portion of the song they want to use, and setting custom fade in and fade out points. iPhone users can assign a custom ringtone to be their default ringtone and they can also assign them to individual callers in their address book. Customers still have full use of the originally purchased song.

Apple today also released the next generation of the world’s most popular music and video jukebox, iTunes 7.4, now available as a free download at www.iTunes.com. iTunes 7.4 includes a larger viewing area for movies and TV, filling the entire iTunes window for a richer, seamless video playback experience that looks better than ever. You can now rate entire albums as well as individual songs.

The iTunes Store is the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store and has become the number three music retailer in the US, surpassing both Amazon and Target.* The iTunes Store features the world’s largest catalog with over six million songs, 550 television shows and over 500 movies and has sold over three billion songs, 100 million TV shows and over two million movies.

Pricing & Availability
Both the new iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store and custom iTunes ringtones for iPhone will be available later this month. iTunes 7.4 is available immediately as a free download at www.itunes.com. Music purchased from the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store is priced the same as music from the iTunes store. Ringtones are available for an additional 99 cents for participating songs that have previously been purchased from iTunes. Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended, fees may apply. The iTunes Store is not available in all countries.

* Based on data from market research firm the NPD Group’s MusicWatch survey that captures consumer reported past week unit purchases equivalized so that one CD equals 12 tracks, excluding wireless transactions.