Starbucks joins MacDonald to offer free WiFi.
What was originally intended as a Third Place (away from home and work) now attracts SOHO workers and sales people, unemployed people, students, nomads, expats
and inadvertently turns Virtual office (2nd place).
MacDonald, the favorite children’s play place, now hosts more lap top users indoors than children outdoors.
A strange sight indeed. Ray Kroc couldn’t have foreseen this change when he started his franchise in Illinois (and expanded by counting church steeples).
A mobile society, yet only with limited places to go (WiFi dependent): airports, hotels and fast food joints.
Everyone is glued to the screen if not the distracted by I-tunes.
The latest release by Apple to signify its intention to dominate consumer mobile devices, without solely relying on Computers (remember 1984?).
Sociologists will look back to 2010 as the year we turned the corner, from “bowl alone” to ” tea alone” in America. Well, not quite, if there were Facebook friends
for a quick chat at one of the 7600 Starbucks. Our telecommuters got one fewer place to spend their day: home and this new home-away-from-home. Just $4.00 + tip.
Thang Nguyen 555 