Starbucks offering free iPhone apps

By Trevor Mogg August 16, 2011

Starbucks and Apple have joined forces to offer free iOS apps to customers.

Coffee drinkers visiting the shop have been able to download free songs from iTunes for a number of years now as part of the popular Pick of the Week program organized by the two companies.

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A Cnet report says that visitors to Starbucks can now grab a Pick of the Week app card at the cash register. On the back is a code that the customer needs to enter to begin downloading the free app.

Up first is Shazam Encore, a music identifying service. This app would ordinarily set you back $5.99, so if it’s one not already in your collection, it might appeal. The free songs offered in the Pick of the Week music program are worth up to $1.29 a time, so on the face of it the app offer looks like a pretty sweet deal.

The fact that the free offer is available to iOS users only may leave some of those with Android-equipped devices feeling a little envious. Then again, you might have already picked up Shazam Encore for nothing when it was offered in the Amazon app store as a Free App of the Day back in March.

It’s not currently clear whether the free apps being offered at Starbucks will replace or run alongside the offer of free music tracks.

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Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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