Apple’s [AAPL] lockstep dance with AT&T [T] as its exclusive 3G service provider may be ending, with Verizon [VZ] showing up to the dance hall seemingly first.

So what’s a mobile data services consumer going to do?

Rumors, Lies, and Damn Lies

Like many of you, we’re certainly curious about the outcome next year for the still-as-of-yet-not-finalized-and-publicized Verizon version of Apple’s  iPhone product, which has been heavily rumored to be shipping early 2011. Certainly, this indicates that this coming winter holiday season represents the last time that AT&T will be able to fully capitalize on its exclusivity deal with Apple for the iPhone product.

But, there’s another portable IT device that has really captured the hearts and imaginations of the computing public: Apple’s iPad. Initially seen as just a “toy” or a trivial curiosity by many of the so-called industry pundits as well as Apple’s perceived competitors, the iPad is now identified as a serious contender as both a mainstream consumer and business mobile device. Even in certain industry segments, like medical and legal specialties, the iPad has made significant inroads in adoption and acceptance, given its form factor and feature set.

But, like the iPhone before it, the iPad has been locked into a 3G wireless net by AT&T. However, unlike the iPhone, the iPad also has Wi-Fi versions that has proven wildly popular, and given a lot of people’s avoidance of the AT&T network and the increasing ubiquity of Wi-Fi coverage by various vendors and free coverage areas sponsored by various organizations, it is this variant of the iPad that may prove to be the best option for the majority of interested parties.

Verizon: Enter, Stage Left

So, many of you have heard about the recent Verizon offering for the iPad, and that the iPad would be sold starting on October 28, 2010. But you may be wondering why Apple bothered to squeeze CDMA-style 3G into the iPad but not the iPhone, at least not as its first device with Verizon.

Answer: Apple didn’t.

Instead, Verizon is offering one of its MiFi pocket routers with any of the different capacity Wi-Fi iPads (with a service plan to boot, ‘natch).

Of course, this means that if you are interested in adding a “take-it-with-you” Wi-Fi capability to your iPad, you probably can just get a MiFi router and service plan from Verizon. The question is, of course, whether it makes sense for Verizon to bother subsidizing the cost of the iPad in order to sell more plans and MiFi routers… Business-wise, to garner a significant mind- and user-share of current and future iPad users, the solution to be to merely give the iPads away for $0.00, once some sort of multi-year commitment for the MiFi data plan was established, or even bundle it with an existing smartphone plan.

AT&T: Enter, Stage Right

Not to be outdone, AT&T has announced that it will also start selling iPads in their stores on October 28, 2010. But since Apple has already been offering both the Wi-Fi only and the 3G+Wi-Fi versions of the iPad online and via its retail stores, there does not appear to be any significant improvements in service. So, unlike the Verizon offering, the AT&T offering does not offer the consumer any way to share a Wi-Fi connection with other devices, despite the cost of the service plans available.

Conclusion: The Management Perspective

This is one of those developing stories that may have an unexpected twist, in a matter of days or even weeks. Since the iPad is a Wi-Fi capable device, any service provider or alternative offering a compelling mobile Wi-Fi hotspot feature at an outrageously reasonable price point would easily become the darling of mobile digital consumers. Since the market, domestically and worldwide, is in such critical demand for a reasonable data service plan to match the iPad and the upcoming lineup of its potential competitors, this is an area where the service provider that re-scales data transfer pricing down to a realistic, affordable level and initiates the customer conversion to its network will be the winner.

If you have been a frequent Wi-Fi user at Starbucks [SBUX] and also a fan of the Starbucks-iTunes free media (music and videos) card promotion, you may have noticed that some stores have had recent troubles in keeping the physical cards in stock or, even worse, up-to-date.

How are you going to keep abreast of the Starbucks-iTunes free music and videos?

Fortunately, Starbucks’ online operations may be able to help: if you check their Wi-Fi portal (which often comes up whenever you try to sign into a store’s Wi-Fi hotspot), you may notice the following:

Have you seen this featurebox on Starbucks' Wi-Fi portal?

But, of course, this also raises the question: what are the faithful card collectors going to do, once their outlet of these physical collectibles dry up?

The Setup

For a few years now, Starbucks [SBUX] has been offering free Wi-Fi access to two groups of people: qualified AT&T wireless customers, and Starbucks Card holders. While it has worked well for the “in” people, it has been a point of mild consternation for those who have not been inclined to get a Starbucks Card or become an AT&T customer. Over the course of the years since the free Wi-Fi service was unveiled (and the switch from T-Mobile [DT] to AT&T as the wireless provider), I’ve noticed people approaching the Starbucks staff asking how they can get access to the Wi-Fi router, to be told that they need to sign up for the Starbucks Card and register online to get it. Of course, for many of these otherwise-Starbucks customers, signing up for the Starbucks Card has– for a variety of unspecified options– just not been an option, and so they’ve left the premises after making their latte purchases.

The Premise

But as more retail chains offer free Wi-Fi, like Panera [PNRA] and McDonald’s [MCD] and Borders [BGP], and even AT&T stalwarts like Barnes & Noble [BN], it has become increasingly obvious that keeping a cohort of customers happy and connected on-premises translates to a variety of upsells and continued purchases, depending on the locale and customer demographics. And perhaps even more important, retaining the casual customers and converting them to regulars in the ever-tightening coffee wars is crucial to Starbucks’ continued success, so finally broadening their free Wi-Fi access to all customers is a necessity.

And it appears that Starbucks will execute on this requirement shortly.

The Action

So, when does the new Wi-Fi policy at Starbucks start?

July 1, 2010.

So, folks, get your Wi-Fi antennae revved up on your MacBooks, MBPs, netbooks, iPod touches, and iPads!

N.B.

Here are other Javamancy related posts, in reverse chronological order:

• Quest for Fire and Wi-Fi Access
• Overwhelming Response to Starbucks Free Wi-Fi Deal
• Starbucks Card

“Is it true? Can I finally use Skype on my [iPhone|iPod touch]?”

After several months, the answer is finally: yes. The official Skype app for iPhone and iPod touch is now available at the iTunes App Store. That’s the good news…

… But if the comments for the app are to be believed, the bad news is that the new iPhone OS app is fairly unstable, crashing in some cases even before finishing the initial loading.

If you are able to get past the supposed instability, you should be exposed to the typical Skype functionality (including the Skype flavor of IM) over Wi-Fi networks. Unfortunately, you cannot use the cell network to conduct your VoIP calls. Still, this is a great new capability, to be able to add VoIP calls to your iPhone or iPod touch after all this time. Especially for iPod touch owners who happen to have the microphone headphones or external microphone!

The war for the hearts, minds, and hands of the wireless masses continues, this time with a new entrant (actually a duo) vying for an initial foothold (handhold?) in the ever-dynamic market for smartphones. Or, perhaps more accurately, it has taken on a new angle due to the new competitor.

Never mind the Samsung Instinct. Keep walking past the Palm Treo Pro. Hey, just ignore the expensive “feature phones”, the nutty Windows Mobile clonies, and the past-generation smartphones. For the price-performance point, just go straight to the current generation of smartphones (which the marketing folks euphemistically are terming “next generation” (and even I was guilty of the looseness of terminology once )).

Apple iPhone 3G (AT&T)

The Apple [AAPL] iPhone 3G is now the elder stateman of the current-gen smartphones. It is also, by far, the frontrunner in the wireless war, by virtue of brand recognition, timing, and production scale. It also has received the vast majority of public scrutiny, and it has managed to successfully weather both its own past successes, the bugs that popped up since its release, the current economic downturn, and its competition.

Even better, since its initial launch, the product has dropped in price under the current AT&T subsidy, and the network performance has improved, both due to a phone software update and incremental 3G network upgrades. Couple these with the product’s inherent strengths, and you’re looking at a very compelling product. Touch screen, “learning” touch typing, plethora of free vetted applications, iPod functionality, Wi-Fi as well as 3G data transmission, an established development platform with APIs, stylish sleek profile… yep, it’s all good.

HTC Dream/G1 (T-Mobile)

The HTC Dream, branded as the T-Mobile [DT] G1 in the U.S. and other parts of the world, is the infamous first Google [GOOG] “GPhone” implementation released into the wild.

Think “anti-iPhone”, and the G1 may be quite close: it has a physical slider keyboard; it has a definite thickness and blockiness to it, instead of the sleek elongated iPhone design; and while it has a sizable display screen, it is not a tactile touch screen like the iPhone 3G’s. It also does not have quite the same polished UI that approaches that of the iPhone. On the other hand, it has the backing of Google, and it includes several Google mobile applications that have been tailored for the G1. Let’s also not discount the allure of developing for a somewhat open source device platform like the G1, as well as the potential for creating and maintaining an integration between Android devices of varying structural formats.

It should be noted that there does not seem to be that massive flood of other Android phones that were expected by year’s end, or at the latest, the beginning of next year. At least, no new or even revised commitments.

RIM BlackBerry Storm (Verizon)

This promising competitor has not yet been released, but we’ve already seen some details publicized, including the launch date and pricing. The smartphone is the latest of RIM’s [RIMM] offerings, and it will be subsidized by Verizon [VZ], its exclusive wireless carrier– at least, for now.

A clicking-button touch screen that is not a plasma membrane, so that when you’re “typing” along the screen, it is essentially one giant button? Rotating (portrait/landscape) visualization on the touch screen? Revamped UI? RIM has tried to take a few pages from Apple’s playbook and “one-up” a bit. It is questionable whether having the entire screen click in order to capture user finger impressions is a good thing… it may hamper fast typists and pro-level users. But it’s still a BlackBerry device, so developing applications for it is somewhat similar to that of previous BlackBerry types, including using the Java variant for coding.

Guess Who’s Not Invited to the Party?

So, seeing the three competitors discussed above, you may be wondering: who’s not represented? It’s somewhat obvious: there’s Palm [PALM] the manufacturer, and there’s Sprint [S] the wireless carrier. Not surprisingly, these two have partnered in the past with their own subsidized phone combinations. And certainly, the Palm Centro has been a commercial success this year; however, it does appear as if the target audience that Sprint and Palm are aiming for is no longer among the population that everybody else wants.

What’s Next

Given the economic climate, the prevailing thought concerning high-ticket tech purchases is that many companies are not loosening their purse strings to allow the rank and file to acquire the smartphones; these products are going to the limited to tech-savvy consumers and the tech-heavy professionals instead.

It is clear that, with the continued cost-cutting observed across the various industries, this is unlikely to change soon. This also means that every single sale and accompanying service sign-up is much more valuable, since every active user becomes a walking billboard for future sales. It also means that newer, more cost-effective smartphones are needed to capture mainstream interest.

Hot out of the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2008 conference are the announcements from RIM [RIMM] about their upcoming smartphones:

• BlackBerry Pearl 8220
• BlackBerry Bold

BlackBerry Pearl 8220

Unfortunately for AT&T [T] customers, the Pearl 8220 will debut in the U.S. as a T-Mobile [DT] exclusive shortly. It sports a lot of the same “consumer” type features that the previous Pearl did, including the SureType keypad. But given the flip phone nature of the new product, there is a larger available screen and more real estate for the input controls, including the recessed trackball quadrant and the better-centered keypad. And for the wirelessly connected people, having Wi-Fi in this model will be a significant improvement in their lives. Given the improved screen contrast (some folks have mentioned that it is on par with the Bold) and the updated 4.6 OS, and just the Star Trek look to the new phone, people who have the older Pearl candy bar format should seriously consider the worthiness of the flip phone format for their needs, especially if they’re already T-Mobile customers.

BlackBerry Bold

But, oh, it gets worse!

While other countries are already getting the Bold, the U.S. has yet to see an official carrier for the product. This may have to do with the failure of the product to pass the various internal testing suites that the U.S. carriers impose. In the wireless war, not having a phone subsidized by a carrier is a serious issue for many of the consumer-type users: just look at the fate of the Treo Pro.

The top-of-the-line Bold has all of the features that pro-type users have come to expect from the BlackBerry, including the QUERTY keyboard, trackball, Wi-Fi, and enterprise server access. The multimedia features are still present, similar to what the Pearl 8220 brings to the table. Most Curve users will probably look momentarily at the Bold, but it would be an incremental upgrade for them. Diehard BlackBerry fans will probably get the Bold regardless, subsidized or otherwise; hardcore mobile users should consider both the Treo Pro or the Bold carefully; everybody should just wait to see what the subsidized pricing plans and options will be for the Bold once it is available in the U.S.

The Setup

This afternoon, as I sauntered into the local Starbucks [SBUX] to get my usual coffee refill, I noticed a small countertop sign at the register bravely announcing the availability of some new menu items… for breakfast. 

“What?!? Breakfast?

“Steve, what happened to returning to core competency?”

Well, I didn’t quite understand it, either. So I asked the barista who was refilling my coffee cup, and she said that she had not tried any of the new menu items either, although she kept eyeing the oatmeal packets sitting forlornly at the far corner behind the bar.

Okay, so I settled down with my fresh coffee and my 12″ PB.

Fast forward a few minutes. I was minding my own business (somewhat) and typing up my latest musings and meanderings, including a quick note about the Xbox 360 price drop (which definitely caught the attention of a lot of the Starbucks patrons around me!), and doing a bit of light Web browsing. Another barista sidled up and plopped down on the adjacent stool and wondered aloud if I’d already tried any of the new menu items. I blurted out, “No, but if you whip up a sample, I’ll give it a try!”

So she hopped off the stool and ran back to “whip up” a batch o’ samples…

The Premise

So, curious about this new development, I navigated over to Starbucks’ site to see if there was a press release.

And here ’tis. And here’s the official Starbucks description (from the press release) about their new breakfast-aimed menu items:

A Better Approach to Breakfast – A Great Start to Your Day

Starbucks Perfect Oatmeal – Now customers can start their day with a piping-hot bowl of oatmeal, packaged for easy transport. Each order can be customized with three different toppings; a portioned 50-calorie pack of brown sugar, 100-calorie pack of dried fruit and 100-calorie pack of a nut medley, and contains 140 to 390 calories depending on topping selections, up to 7 grams of fiber and 1.5 servings of whole grains – half of your daily needs.  

Power Protein Plate – A convenient option with simple ingredients, the Power Protein Plate is a hearty combination of a cage-free hard-boiled egg, 100% whole wheat bagel, peanut butter, cheese, and fresh fruit. At 330 calories, this wholesome breakfast or snack has 16 grams of protein (about one-third of your daily needs) and 5 grams of fiber.

Berry Stella – This first of the six healthier additions was introduced nationally on July 15, 2008. For those who eat on the run, the Berry Stella is a 100% whole grain breakfast pastry that delivers a hearty blend of fiber, whole grains, real fruit and more than 200 mg of Omega-3s at 280 calories.

Apple Bran Muffin – Not your ordinary bran muffin, StarbucksÒ new Apple Bran Muffin is moist, delicious and full of ingredients to start your morning off right. Made with whole wheat flour, oats and wheat bran, and baked with real apples, tart cherries and honey, this muffin is a perfect option with 7 grams of fiber, 7 grams of protein, Omega-3s and 330 calories.

Chewy Fruit & Nut Bar – Full of whole, nourishing ingredients including oats, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and honey, the Chewy Fruit & Nut Bar contains heart-healthy Omega-3s and 250 calories, 4 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein.  

Multigrain Roll with Spreads – Find a simple, delicious breakfast option in a multigrain roll served with a choice of savory almond butter and strawberry preserves.  Made with seven different seeds and grains, and sweetened with honey, the roll boasts 7 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber, at 280 calories.  The almond butter spread is pre-portioned to a 100-calorie pack, while the strawberry preserves contains 40 calories.  

The Action

The industrious barista strolled back with a tray of the sample cups filled with the oatmeal. It was topped with quite a few raisins, nuts, and some other partially-hidden foodstuffs (maybe the brown sugar?). Since the oatmeal is being prepared from a premeasured packet, getting the hot water volume just right is really important.

As I tasted it, I had a flashback of the Quaker Oats oatmeal I used to eat quite frequently; I used to top it myself with a mix of nuts, banana slices, and honey. The brown sugar certainly is nice, too. On the whole, the experience was positive, and if I’m in a rush, I might just order some in the future… although I’m not sure I’d be sticking around a Starbucks in the morning to enjoy oatmeal, since I’m usually rushing to get to different destinations.

N.B.

You’ve probably noticed that I occasionally do some light computing (both mobile- and notebook-type) at various WiFi-enabled Starbucks locations. Remember the initial birth pains for the free Wi-Fi with the Starbucks Card? Here are some related Javamancy posts, listed in reverse chronological order:

• Starbucks Card Site Login Update 2
• Starbucks Card Site Login Update
• Starbucks Card Online Site Access Restored
• Overwhelming Response to Starbucks Free Wi-Fi Deal

Also: This is part of the New Starbucks? series.

The Setup

The last you heard from me, I was struggling mightily with a moblogging session to Javamancy, with mixed success. It has been several days since I managed to acquire public terminal access back to Javamancy, and geez, it’s been quite an ordeal.

The Premise

Maybe I’m too jaded, but in the past, whenever I traveled to technical (and even medical) conferences, my level of expectation for free WiFi access, or at the very least, free Internet access, is extremely high. And why not? Across the globe, particularly in the Pacific Rim and Europe, there’s definitely an expectation for ubiquitous access to distributed services, including Web services, and business folk as well as professionals (yeah, such as myself, even).

So why not in Hawaii?

Well, apparently at least on Oahu near the southern coast of the island, where there are certainly plenty of hotels and various facilities, it is definitely NOT a free Wifi zone. Is there a for-profit conspiracy going on?

Jump to the “Mike”

During the first day of the APMA conference, there was one of those singing inspirational speakers, Mike Rayburn. Apparently, he’s a DC metro fellow, having grown up in Rockville, Maryland, and even goofing off (with the rest of us) over at Veneman’s Music Store, while it still existed on Rockville Pike waaay back in the past. Anyway, Mike had some interesting points to make (although, for the life of me, I can’t remember exactly the terminology he used). And his schtick is one of those music-related associations for generalities of life, so sometimes there is a disconnect during translation.

“Where’s the fire, Mike?”

His concept of innovation involves the paradigm shift away from focusing on limitations or problems and using what-if scenarios for a given “issue”. He also states you should try to think of impossible “issues” to attempt to tackle. Then to take a small step in the direction of resolving those “issues”… just a little step. Then, finally, to be receptive to opportunities that may potentially relate to all of the things that may somehow filter or trace back to your bag of “issues”.

During his presentation, he used his medleys and parodies of pop music (and mostly retro rock) to hammer on his talking points. Quite entertaining, but as you can clearly read, of somewhat variable retention value. Perhaps if he had another session…?

The Action

In his own way, he somewhat fired me up to attempt to find free WiFi somewhere.

This is what I’ve discovered:

• Unfortunately, the Hiltons in Hawaii continue to milk the Internet access fees for what they’re worth;
• The Starbucks on-premises at the Hiltons are actually secret licensees of the Starbucks [SBUX] brand and are not subject to the Starbucks Card program, including providing the free WiFi access;
• The local Starbucks stores have not been successfully converted to the AT&T branded free WiFi access (yet), and the T-Mobile hotspots in the three stores I’ve personally visited are unfortunately misconfigured;
• There is surprisingly an official (but tiny) Apple Store at the Ala Moana Center open-air mall, but with the massive throngs of window shoppers congesting the store, there was very little space (or privacy) to work on the blog;
• Walking about the mall itself looking for rumored free WiFi enabled bars and restaurants turned up nothing, despite assurances from other convention-goers that they were under the impression that there was at least one bar there that offered it;
• Traveling around looking for free WiFi access with a 17″ MacBook Pro is tough, even in a protective backpack– although it’s a lot thinner than many large notebooks, it’s still quite bulky (and hefty).

So, I’m still searching…

In the meantime, I’m sticking to engaging in a variety of offline activities in this otherwise island paradise.

Here’s a quick update on the previous update post on the Starbucks Card site access:

After a few more hours (most likely quite aggravating and anxious period of rushing to scale up and fix-hack-patch, for the developers and ops involved), the Starbucks Card site has been opened back up for the incoming new user-registrants for the program.

Previously, the “lightbox.htm” drop-link popped up a short error message, but the link now correctly shows the entryway for signup. The other links appear to be operational as well.

But Wait! There’s More…

Okay, now that you’ve signed up for the free Wi-Fi access via the Starbucks Card program, you obviously are just itching to fire up your Apple notebook (MacBook? MacBook Pro? PowerBook? iBook?) or perhaps your Nokia N810… After all, we need to make sure that it’s all good, right?

Once I determined that some of the login capability had resumed, I began exploring the Starbucks site…

Situational Awareness

After doing some site testing over at the Starbucks site, here are more details on the site access issue, and the Starbucks Card site login disturbance:

• The main site itself is operational;
• The Starbucks Card feature on the site is also operational;
• If you are a “new user” (meaning you haven’t registered your Starbucks Card yet, or you don’t even have a Starbucks Card or an online Starbucks account yet), and you went to the Starbucks Card Rewards page to learn more about the program… and then you attempted to click through to sign up: you’ll get an error message saying that excessive traffic has made the signup unavailable. (Although I provide that link to the error message, I’m not sure if that was a quick hack or a permanent link… so it’s possible it may start working once the problem has been resolved);
• If you are an existing Starbucks Card holder (like me), you can use the link provided on the Starbucks Card Rewards page to begin your activation of the AT&T-based free Wi-Fi tied to your Starbucks Card account;
• If you already have a Starbucks Card that you’re itching to activate at the same time as you sign up for the free Wi-Fi, you can try to directly access the “Starbucks Card Rewards with Wi-Fi” page to initiate the signup. Note that this page is essentially the same as the link provided for existing Starbucks Card holders.

More Information for the Interested Folk

• Want to read the EULA from AT&T for the free Wi-Fi?
• How about a tech support page from AT&T about the Wi-Fi? This covers AT&T-based Wi-Fi service, not just at Starbucks.
• How about a customer service page from Starbucks? This isn’t merely about the Starbucks Card, but quite a few different things Starbucksian.

N.B.

A lot of companies use border servers (accelerators like Akamai [AKAM] and others of its ilk) to manage static content closer to external users (and sometimes even internal users), so it makes sense that many of the bits ‘n pieces stored on those are accessible. But, design-wise, a lot of authentication functions are centralized on back-end servers or distributed into the middleware cloud (or, more primitively, a static middleware layer). Isolation-wise, it should be possible from a good design to segment out features that require appropriate authentication from other features that are not reliant on a user’s identity.