T-Mobile Lawsuit Repercussions

Rob Adler has an interesting take on the T-Mobile/Starbucks WiFi lawsuit at his Vantage blog. His point? That the PR hit of winning a lawsuit which takes away WiFi from millions of users will be extreme. I can't help but wonder if the general public would ever be aware of the lawsuit. After all, you have to see something over and and over for it to make an impression.

I also wonder if T-Mobile is successful, wouldn't Starbucks have to pay the company off to make this issue go away? After all, I can't see Starbucks telling customers their free WiFi promotion is going away.

Starbucks is likely pushing AT&T to replace T-Mobile equipment in stores as fast as possible and in addition may have to pay T-Mobile for time the non-AT&T customers spend on the T-Mobile Starbucks WiFi network.

Starbucks is not doing well and they can't afford to take this promotion back... Instead they have to rely on free broadband to get people into their stores so they can purchase some expensive coffee and perhaps some food.

Oh, and Rob... You are welcome.