On July 1, Starbucks will turn on one-click, free Wi-Fi through AT&T in all U.S. company operated stores. This was announced on June 14 by Howard Schultz, the chairman and CEO of Starbucks, at WIRED’s Business Conference Disruptive during his conversation revolving around the “Evolving the Starbucks Experience in an Ever-changing World” theme.

courtesy: gizmodo.com

Now, the free Wi-Fi is provided only to those who have Starbuks cards or are AT&T customers, and other consumers have to pay $3.99 for 2 consecutive hours of Wi-Fi access. Building on the Wi-Fi update, Schultz also revealed plans for a new online customer experience called the Starbucks Digital Network, in partnership with Yahoo!, which will debut later this fall. It will open up a uniquely valuable customer experience, while at the same time appeals to leading online content providers and provides a new channel for customer engagement.

This online experience – available only in U.S. company operated Starbucks stores – will be unique in its content offerings, allowing customers free unrestricted access to various paid sites and services such as iTunes, The New York Times, Patch, USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! and ZAGAT, exclusive content and previews, free downloads, local community news and activities, on their laptops, tablets or smart phones.