Today, Starbucks Coffee Company, T-Mobile USA and HP celebrate the one-year anniversary of the launch of T-Mobile HotSpot, the nation's largest carrier-owned Wi-Fi service, by offering customers an enhanced digital entertainment experience at Starbucks coffeehouses that will have them happily singing "the blues."

Beginning today, Starbucks customers will be rewarded with a unique multimedia experience. Throughout October, customers using a Wi-Fi enabled notebook computer while at select Starbucks locations can watch classic blues performances from legends like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, listen to an array of great blues tunes, and see videos of noteworthy musicians sharing how blues music and artists influenced them. The multimedia content, powered by HP, is based on the Hear Music CD, titled Got a Feeling Called the Blues and salutes the "Year of the Blues" as designated by the United States Congress.

"Coupling unique digital content from Hear Music with T-Mobile HotSpot is an exciting innovation that gives our customers another reason to come to Starbucks -- further enhancing the Starbucks Experience and creating a deeper connection with our customers," said Don MacKinnon, Starbucks vice president of Music and Entertainment.

In addition to offering customers a rich and compelling in-store digital entertainment experience, Starbucks launched the T-Mobile HotSpot wireless broadband Internet service at 250 Starbucks locations in Michigan and North Carolina today -- giving customers high-speed wireless access to the Internet and their corporate intranets.

The T-Mobile HotSpot service will also be extended to more Starbucks stores within selected markets currently offering the service: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Washington, D.C. The T-Mobile HotSpot service is available in approximately 2,600 Starbucks stores in the United States. The number is expected to grow to 2,700 by the end of 2003.

"We launched the service in August 2002 with 1,200 stores and, given the positive customer response, we have doubled the number of stores offering Wi-Fi, and have plans for continued expansion," said Howard Schultz, chairman, Starbucks Coffee Company. "Our customers are telling us that offering the T-Mobile HotSpot service at Starbucks enhances their experience in our stores. They enjoy being able to stay connected, while they relax in the comfortable Starbucks environment with their favorite handcrafted Starbucks beverage. We look forward to bringing this great experience to our customers in these markets."

Usage of the T-Mobile HotSpot service at Starbucks continues to grow. With millions of accesses since the launch of the service, customers are finding that Starbucks is the ideal "third place" between home and the office to catch-up on email, listen to digital music, put the finishing touches on a presentation, or access their corporate intranet. Proving the broad acceptance of Wi-Fi by Starbucks customers, internal research shows that the average connection is approximately 45 minutes in duration and more than 90 percent of T-Mobile HotSpot accesses are during the off-peak store hours, after 9 a.m.

"With thousands of HotSpots across the United States, and more coming online everyday, T-Mobile, Starbucks and HP are making Wi-Fi real today," said Joe Sims, vice president and general manager for T-Mobile HotSpot. "Customers are quickly learning the value of the high-speed connections offered through T-Mobile HotSpot, made all the more clear with this exciting new broadband video and music offering at Starbucks."

To log into the T-Mobile HotSpot service and establish a connection, customers with a Wi-Fi (802.11b) enabled notebook computer, Tablet PC or Pocket PC simply need to launch their Internet browser from within a participating Starbucks and log in. The T-Mobile HotSpot service is backed by high-speed T-1 connections that are reliable and fast enough to accommodate the full spectrum of applications from checking e-mail to rich multimedia video. T-Mobile HotSpot window signs are visible near the entrance of all participating Starbucks locations. A complete list of stores can also be found by visiting the Starbucks store locator on www.starbucks.com/hotspot and selecting "Wireless HotSpot Stores" as the Store Type.

Starbucks Coffee Company is the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world, with more than 7,000 retail locations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim. The Company is committed to offering the highest quality coffee and the Starbucks Experience while conducting its business in ways that produce social, environmental and economic benefits for communities in which it does business. In addition to its retail operations, the Company produces and sells bottled Frappuccino coffee drinks, Starbucks DoubleShot coffee drink, and a line of superpremium ice creams through its joint venture partnerships. The Company's brand portfolio provides a wide variety of consumer products. Tazo Tea's line of innovative premium teas and Hear Music's exceptional compact discs enhance the Starbucks Experience through best-of-class products. The Seattle's Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia Coffee brands enable Starbucks to appeal to a broader consumer base by offering an alternative variety of coffee flavor profiles.