Starbucks derives much (if not most) of their success from product positioning. It's no secret their coffee is just meh in comparison to any other coffee shop. People frequent Starbucks because they love the brand. A lot of things comprise a brand. The logo, the music, the smell, the brown tiled floor, the atmosphere, and yes, the wifi they offer.
If Starbucks partners with Google it isn't really a play to make the free-loaders more comfortable from an operations standpoint, it is about improving their brand image. Once you know they have faster wifi, it will be one more aspect of the brand that you are drawn to, even if it isn't to use the wifi. It may sound absurd, but I believe this is more of a marketing play than actually improving the customer experience.
Starbucks coffee is actually pretty darn good. Sure, if you live in SF, Seattle, Portland, or New York City, you have access to niche coffee shops that can really do better. But objectively speaking, Starbucks coffee is really about 90% as good. And for the rest of the country it _really_ raised the quality of coffee. 20 years ago you got bitter swill anywhere except the above trailblazing cities. Today you can get a properly pulled espresso with perfectly microfrothed whole milk anywhere in the country, which is a pretty mean feat. In a decade or two we've hit Italian levels of coffee quality.
There may be objective qualities that have statistical correlations to people's "good/bad" assessments, but that doesn't stop "good" and "bad" from being subjective.
Ehh, nearly every city I've been to with a population over ~20k has had noticeably better coffee in at least one local spot. It's not just the major cities. But yes, comparing the average cup of coffee before/after Starbucks got big is a night-and-day comparison.
I just wish everyone wouldn't try to taste like Starbucks, now. They can't do it half as well as Starbucks does, so you just get worse everything.
I agree. My favorite is Philz, but even compared to that I would say Starbucks is at least 90% good. I would even go further to say that their Americano is sometimes better than a lot of what those hipster-famous coffee shops serve (but it's subjective because i don't like tangy flavor)
I don't think I've ever lived in a city that doesn't offer at least one better option. To me Starbucks is just a safe bet. If I'm in a new town and in a rush its a guaranteed commodity. Their mixed drinks are pretty good, but that's because they are so loaded down with sugar and syrups you can't taste the coffee. I usually avoid them since I'm not one for sweets. Their straight black drip is below bar. It used to be laughably bad but a couple years ago they made a serious effort to improve it.
To me they are like Wendy's. Yeah, not the best, but not bad. I can do better at home or if I know the area... but that's not always the case.
I usually avoid being subjective, but Starbucks coffee is pretty bad, and most of their barista are hardly knowledgeable about coffee. Once, I asked for an espresso to stay, and it took them 5 long minutes to find an espresso cup. (I can't handle drinking espresso in an americano cup to go.) And talk about grinding.
Anyway, I live in NYC and as you said, there are plenty of local coffee shops with awesome coffee (Gregory's, Kaffee 1668, grounded), so I can't complain. But it'd be terrific if Google could support these better coffee shops instead of just following the masses, because they provide a much better experience.
Interestingly, Italians, from what I can tell, are not "coffee snobs" at all. They drink espresso, cappuccino, macchiato, etc... and just expect it to be pretty good, but I've never seen people discuss it much, like you might with wine.
I don't drink the stuff at all, so have no opinion on the quality anywhere.
If Starbucks partners with Google it isn't really a play to make the free-loaders more comfortable from an operations standpoint, it is about improving their brand image. Once you know they have faster wifi, it will be one more aspect of the brand that you are drawn to, even if it isn't to use the wifi. It may sound absurd, but I believe this is more of a marketing play than actually improving the customer experience.