[privacy] Aha! Starbucks will be doing location-based advertising after all

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

WiFi, as Apple has figured out, is a better technology for doing close-up
ads than cellphones.
 
Richard

Apple Cuts iPhone Price and Revamps iPods 
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/technology/05cnd-apple.html?_r=1&hp&oref=s
login

Another feature of the iPod software will be the ability to alert a user
entering a Starbucks coffee shop to the music being played there. If a
person likes the song and wants to buy it on iTunes, tapping an icon on the
screen will download the song. 

Howard Schultz, Starbucks' chief executive, said Starbucks stores in the
United States are being equipped to manage this process. He said that stores
in Seattle and New York City would have the capability by Oct. 2, and that
other stores across the country would get the service over the next two
years. 

vs.

The Starbucks Coupon Conspiracy - Industry Trend or Event
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HWW/is_14_4/ai_73746996

If you've read a news story in the past two years about our wireless future,
you've probably come across the following scenario: Your cell phone beeps as
you're walking down the street. It's Starbucks, which knows that you're 100
feet from its nearest franchise and zaps you a coupon for $1 off your next
cup of coffee.

According to archive research, the "Starbucks coupon" first appeared Oct.
18, 1999, in a Business Week story called "Smart Phones." With surprisingly
little variation it has made the rounds of just about every major business
publication (including this one). "The outlet will give you a dollar off a
cappuccino," the Wall Street Journal wrote as recently as March 13.

...

Problem is, not only has it become an annoying anecdote, it's also off the
mark; Starbucks has no plans for wireless coupons. "It's definitely not
something we're driving toward," says Darren Huston, senior VP of new
ventures.

Even worse, the assumption of the inevitability of "location based"
advertising, which will become possible when cell phones become miniature
tracking devices as mandated by the federal government, is offensive to some
people.

"I hate it," says Mark Flolid, co-founder of SignalSoft, which makes mobile
software. "It's overused and smacks right up against privacy issues. If
that's the only service [that makes use of someone's location], God help
us."

...



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