New Microsoft Starbucks app is good news
There’s one in the grocery store. Next to the gas station. There’s the drive through. The mall. And the big one on the corner. Lots of Starbucks. Very convenient.
But Starbucks is working with Microsoft to make it even more convenient. How about putting Starbucks in your Microsoft Outlook? An Outlook add-in that handles meetings and gift cards.
Evidently, Microsoft (Redmond WA) is really into Starbucks (Seattle WA). It’s just a half hour across Lake Washington from Redmond to the Seattle Starbucks HQ. The new app will let Outlook users schedule meetings at nearby Starbucks locations. Or purchase and send Starbucks gift cards. Both functions completely within Outlook.
This builds on the recent Starbuck’s addition of a Mobile Order & Pay feature. Buy your coffee on your phone before you start driving to Starbucks, so it’s ready when you get there. Your order enters the line at the point of your phone order.
Microsoft’s interest goes beyond coffee meetings, however. They want to demonstrate to application developers that Office software makes a good platform for interacting through phone apps. The Office 365 subscription service now has more than 20.6 million consumer subscribers (end of 2015).
In Starbuck’s eyes, that’s a lot of coffee.
