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http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/10/19/akamai.starbucks.deal/

Akamai to supply 900 Starbucks stores

updated 06:25 pm EDT, Fri October 19, 2007

 

Akamai Starbucks Deal


Starbucks and Akamai today announced a new business partnership that comes on the heels of reports that Apple will provide special Starbucks-centric media for patrons of the international coffee chain. Akamai says it will provide the infrastructure for this venture, which is designed to speed up the "Now Playing" feature available to iPhone and iPod Touch users. The deal will make purchasing Starbucks-featured tracks more seamless, according to the companies, by greatly decreasing network latency.

"We are excited about our technology relationship with Starbucks," said Paul Sagan, president and CEO of Akamai. "This represents the culmination of extensive planning, and we are honored to join Apple and Starbucks in this major transformation of how people discover new music. Enabling servers within a customer's retail environment with Akamai's technology demonstrates the pervasiveness and agility of our edge architecture."

Interestingly, wireless connectivity for the new service will be supplied by T-Mobile, rather than Apple's current U.S. business partner, AT&T. Akamai has assured users that there will be no additional charges or connection fees for the service -- which will launch in 900 stores in New York, Seattle, and San Francisco with Akamai-enabled servers by November 8th, 2007.

In September, Apple and Starbucks formed a business relationship that allows iPhone- and iPod touch-carrying Starbucks customers to purchase music that is currently playing in its shops as they sit and enjoy their coffee breaks, something Apple has coined "Now Playing". Starbucks is reputed for having high-quality music from both well-known and eclectic artists alike.


by MacNN Staff

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Comments

  1. ClevelandAdv

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jul 2004

    0

    AKAM

    Hopes this helps boost my AKAM stock, since it has tanked this year (after it went up 1000%).

  1. Feathers

    Grizzled Veteran

    Joined: Oct 1999

    0

    poor reporting...

    What the author fails to report (and is pretty relevant) is that Apple has held a significant stake in Akamai for a number of years. Research? This old thinksecret link adds more: http://www.thinksecret.com/news/speedera.html

  1. UberFu

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2002

    0

    um...

    ...when I goto grab an iPhone [or iPod Touch] in the next month or so - I have no intention of leaving the Starbucks or the YouTube icons/ Apps on my phone_

    I think it's a waste of screen real-estate that can be put to better use_

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