Two staples of life in the Pacific Northwest – coffee and computers – have finally come together.
At a press conference last Wednesday, joint partners, Starbucks, HP and T-Mobile announced the launch of high-speed broadband wireless Internet access at approximately 1,200 Starbucks locations throughout the United States and Europe.
Pacific Northwest real estate company, John L. Scott Real Estate, has been using the new T-Mobile HotSpot service and HP mobile products in Starbucks locations throughout the Northwest since Aug. 1, as a part of a pilot program designed to analyze the benefits of the service for mobile professionals.
John L. Scott was selected as the exclusive real estate company to participate in this nation-wide pilot program.
Real estate was identified by the three partners as a clear example of a profession that would benefit greatly from having access to the T-Mobile HotSpot service at Starbucks.
“The real estate industry and companies like John L. Scott with scores of mobile professionals can achieve greater productivity and a competitive edge with the new T-Mobile Hotspot service,” said Jerry Meerkatz, vice president and general manager for HP’s Cross Industry Business Solutions.
“As an innovative real estate company that uses technology to provide superior customer service, John L. Scott’s participation in the pilot has allowed realtors to bring real estate listing details directly to their clients, in a convenient and familiar location.”
Also known as “Wi-Fi” technology, this high-speed Internet service can be accessed by Starbucks customers with a wireless-ready notebook computer or Pocket PC.
Backed by T-1 connections, the T-Mobile HotSpot service is reliable and fast enough to accommodate the full spectrum of applications from checking e-mail to multi-media video conferencing with a high-speed wireless connection that is as much as 40-50 times faster than the standard dial-up Internet access.
As the preferred technology provider for Starbucks, HP has introduced the new Wireless Connection Manager.
This free downloadable software makes it simple for mobile professionals, like real estate agents to configure their wireless enabled notebook and Pocket PC to automatically sense and connect to available wireless networks, making the move from home to office to Starbucks virtually seamless.
Mobile professionals can visit www.starbucks.com/hotspot to download the free HP software.
“It’s like adding 1,200 new satellite John L. Scott offices,” said J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate, in response to the Starbucks, HP and T-Mobile HotSpot announcement.
“Our agents are already using Starbucks as a meeting place with their clients. The T-Mobile wireless service and HP technology will serve to enhance those customer interactions and their business,” he said.
Scott added that about half of John L. Scott’s company-owned branch offices throughout the Pacific Northwest currently have access to wireless technology and the rest should be equipped within a year.
“John L. Scott is playing an important role in the launch of the T-Mobile HotSpot service,” said Anne Saunders, vice president, Starbucks Interactive, New Ventures. “Their involvement in the pilot program is helping us identify the needs of mobile professionals and how they can best benefit from this new innovative service.”
A select group of John L. Scott agents who were already using HP or Compaq notebooks or Pocket PCs were equipped with HP Wireless cards, free T-Mobile wireless service, and a Starbucks Card for use during the pilot program.
The pilot is scheduled to run through October.
John L. Scott Real Estate was founded in 1931 and is currently led by third generation chairman and CEO, J. Lennox Scott. With over 42,000 closed transactions last year, John L. Scott grossed more than $8.2 billion in volume sales and is the fourth largest regional real estate company in the nation. In 2002 John L. Scott received the prestigious Inman Innovator Award for “Most Innovative Real Estate Company” in the nation because of the company’s cutting-edge approach to the Web and technology. The award winning Web site www.johnlscott.com receives over one million visits a month, producing over 50 million hits. John L. Scott has 113 offices and over 2,900 sales associates located throughout the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho.