What can an iPhone app do for Starbucks?

So, on weekends, we allow ourselves to rest, and take our usual official brainstorming into the casual atmosphere of Starbucks near Galleria. And this past weekend, while discussing our latest ventures in iPhone apps and its potentials, we whipped up an idea – iPhone app for Starbucks.

We gave the app all the obvious features- a Starbucks’ store locator, a mini iPhone ordering system that will not only help people bypassing long lines, but will also be great for making large corporate orders (usually more than 5 drinks at a time) sound less tedious. We also included a nifty digital scanable version of the Starbucks card, one that can be recharged directly via iPhones.

But we were looking for something more than this. We wanted to use the power of iPhones of connecting people and come up with a Starbucks app that was not just a matter of convenience; but, a matter of style, class and branding.

So we tried to conceptualize Starbucks; the services that it offers and what comes out of those services. We noticed how Starbucks lets you concoct your own personalized drinks. You go to the counter, come up with a funky combination of pumps and shots and you can have your personal drink. And we added a virtual drinks feature to our app concept which can let you make your drinks virtually, order them, share your recipes and store them for future orders.

We also noticed that Starbucks cafes host a lot of book club events and community activities; and, the café is practically an unofficial hub to many Meet Ups. Wonder if an iPhone public calendar of events can greatly improve the way in which people find Starbucks events; people will be able to find the nearest Starbucks café and look up events calendar to find events of their interest.

Finally, we thought of the Starbucks’ green campaign. An iPhone app would be an ideal way for Starbucks to infuse its green movement by making it a part of its in house environment; it’s only an iPhone app that can literally hand down this campaign directly into the hands of millions of Starbucks fans, concerned about their environment, and, who want to do something about it.

In a matter of a few hours, the ChaiONE team had come up with an entire concept of a iPhone app, custom designed for Starbucks, brimming with features . It’s wonderful to know how this tiny piece of technology can inject so much more life into something that already seems to be so alive.

Do you think this app could come handy for Starbucks users?