AT&T takes over Wi-Fi service at Starbucks. Another demonstration of the power of the iPhone.

The Apple - Starbucks linkup pays dividends for AT&T. It was an obvious move after Apple demonstrated the ability to purchase songs played on Starbucks XM radio via wi-Fi on the iTunes store.

Quoted: The move is a logical next step for the coffee chain, considering it already has Wi-Fi-related deals in place with Apple's AT&T-powered iPhone.

If you were every wondering why Digital Rights Management is an impediment to success in the market look no further than the shenanigans around Microsoft's "Plays For Sure" badge which has now become Certified fro Windows Vista.

Which as Tom Ricker points out is not the same as the Zune being Certified for Windows Vista.

A company is the sum of it's people's social capital.

Fascinating concept....

Yes, The Music Industry thinks Total Music is their savior by hiding their cut of the pie in the upfront purchase price.

Do I really want to pay a surcharge just to avoid the threat of being sued by the Music industry for listening to music I have purchased - just in a format and at a time of my own choosing.

Quoted: The latest brainwave from the besieged music industry is the proposal to offer free music to end users via the Total Music brand. ...

So the music labels are thinking about another Subscription service. The success of the iTunes service comes from the fact that the simple model it uses allows me to OWN my music. The fact that the vast majority of music on our iPods and iPhones comes from our own sources, typically our own CD libraries should confirm that we do not want our memories held to ransom as part of a monthly subscription.

Let's be clear about this - it is about our memories. Music triggers memories. When we are down we put on music to remind us of happier times. We don't want to pay for the rest of our lifetime to be able to trigger those memories.

Quoted: Universal chief Doug Morris is enlisting other big music players for a service to challenge the Jobs juggernaut

Will Apple use its cash to bid for the 700 Mhz wireless spectrum. I doubt it. However, Apple does have ever closer links with Google. It would seem to be in both of their interests to see this wireless spectrum exploited in an open access model. Google benefits by enabling access to their search and related services. Apple benefits by creating cutting edge products that utilize the wireless spectrum.

Neither Apple or Google have experience in building and operating a national communications network. It would seem to make sense for them to partner with another company that has that expertise. At the same time such a move might lower the risks and limit the capital outlay that would be required.

Another example of Apple enabling the Internet Singularity. The news that car audio manufacturers will implement a "Tag-it" button that can download tags to an attached iPod which will then line up those songs for purchase when the iPod is synced.

This demonstrates the wisdom of Apple working with car audio manufacturers. While it looks like the feature will be targeted at tagging songs the possiblities are enormous. This could provide a boost to talk radio. Imagine if you are going to miss the end of a show because you have arrived at your destination. What if you could tag the show and download the podcast to finish listening later.

Once again Apple is enbling the ecosystem and each expansion of that ecosystem makes it less and less sensible for the music labels, tv networks and movie studios to abandon that ecosystem.

One more thing turns out to be the iPod touch. Basically an iPhone without the phone. A similar user interface to the iPhone. The multi-touch glass display and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and a Safari browser.

We can expect the hacking community to crack this baby open and add extras to this device just like has already happened with the iPhone. Much of the hard work has already been done.

The addition of W-Fi and Safari is a brilliant move by Apple. They are reported to be on target to sell 1 Million iPhones by the end of the month. The iPod touch is only going to accelerate the growing popularity of Safari/WebKit. This move on its own may be enough to seal the iPhone/WebKit's position as the defacto Web 2.0 mobile terminal.

The only surprise is that the device didn't come with a hard drive. At least they offered a 16GB version which will be priced alongside the 8GB iPhone at $399.

The iPod halo effect scores another notch on its belt. It sems that Apple's iPhone became the biggest selling smartphone in the USA in its first full month of sales. The pent up demand also appears to have pushed the phone to equal sales of the the LG Chocolate, the top selling feature phone, in the USA. While Apple is reported to be outselling AT&T iPhone sales by a ratio of 7 to 1 AT&T is doing okay since 1 in 4 buyers is reported to be switching from another carrier to get the iPhone.

It will be interesting to see if this momentum is maintained for the first quarter. If it is the Steve Jobs is on target to achieve the 25 million phone objective by the end of 2008.