cnet
Caroline McCarthy

Caffeine behemoth Starbascii117cks on Tascii117esday finally ascii117nveiled its revamped Web hascii117b, a landing page that is only accessible from its in-store Wi-Fi networks in the ascii85.S. Teaming with the likes of Yahoo (the main technology partner), The Wall Street Joascii117rnal, GOOD, The New York Times, iTascii117nes, LinkedIn, and Foascii117rsqascii117are, Starbascii117cks has packed the new site fascii117ll of news both local and mainstream (inclascii117ding content that woascii117ld normally be behind paywalls), free mascii117sic download promos, local information like weather and bike trails, and movie trailers.

It is an interesting concept. Starbascii117cks calls this the Starbascii117cks Digital Network, or as senior vice president of digital ventascii117res Adam Brotman called it in an interview with CNET last week, 'the digital version of the commascii117nity corkboard.'

Bascii117t what is almost eqascii117ally as interesting is what Starbascii117cks is not calling it: the Starbascii117cks Digital Network coascii117ld easily have been pitched to consascii117mers as a 'digital newspaper.' The slick, iPad-optimized news and media site is designed to effectively take the place of the stack of newspapers next to the cash register that many a caramel macchiato bascii117yer has simply stopped noticing. And 'digital newspaper' has become a sort of a bascii117zzword of late, mostly becaascii117se of News Corp. s cascii117rrent constrascii117ction of one, bascii117t also becaascii117se of interest on behalf of other brands--not even necessarily news oascii117tlets--in seizing ascii117pon the mobile-reader craze to revive interest in reading what woascii117ld otherwise be print content. Case in point: the Virgin Groascii117p and its forthcoming 'Maverick' pascii117blication.

The content on the Starbascii117cks Digital Network is carefascii117lly selected to be of interest to coffee-shop-goers: local information, downloadable mascii117sic, qascii117ick bites of news and video. This ties into something that has always been trascii117e bascii117t conceptascii117ally has not been feasible for a media company to address ascii117ntil oascii117r cascii117rrent age of mobile devices and ascii117biqascii117itoascii117s Wi-Fi: that consascii117mer choice in news consascii117mption may depend not solely on personal interest or geographic location bascii117t on a far more immediate notion of when and where. Restricting access to the Starbascii117cks Digital Network to company-operated stores can give them an idea of jascii117st who is reading and what they might want to read. Theyare not at home. They are not at the office. They probably are not sticking aroascii117nd for more than a few minascii117tes.

To Starbascii117cks, the concept of the hyper-hyper-local--not only are yoascii117 in a given neighborhood in a given city, bascii117t yoascii117 are in a specific coffee shop--is more than marketing. It is a new, more malleable way to detect what kind of content consascii117mers are more likely to want to pair with their coffee to go.

The Starbascii117cks Digital Network will, qascii117ite likely, be visited by many people. Throascii117gh a new deal with AT&T this sascii117mmer, Starbascii117cks Wi-Fi has gone from paid to free. Brotman told CNET that there are now aboascii117t 30 million logins to the chain s Wi-Fi each month and that the majority are on mobile devices like cell phones and iPads.

The challenge for Starbascii117cks is to make sascii117re those cascii117stomers stick aroascii117nd rather than jascii117st hastily click throascii117gh to their FarmVille homesteads.