Starbucks has teamed up with Yahoo to offer their customers e-books and movies in an attempt to encourage them to “stay a while” and purchase more items at Starbucks.
Starbucks, who traditionally charged for wireless internet, began their free wireless internet campaign in July of this year. Now when you access Starbucks’ wireless service, you will be welcomed to watch moves, read books or enjoy access to some paid sites from their partners, some of which include The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, Apple’s iTunes, local news provider Patch, and Zagat.
If you want to read the books at home, you may purchase them through the internet service. Starbucks makes a small profit from the purchase.
The e-books on the network are being offered through the Bookish Reading Club, a partnership with publishers, including Harper Collins, Hachette, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster.
Some books will be offered as excerpts only – but the customer will have the option of buying the whole book if interested. Some material will be made available on the network before its release date. One of the first such offerings is a preview of Anita Shreve’s upcoming novel “Rescue.”
