Although people in the US can benefit from the CBS Sports app released today, what a lot of users are looking for is one from those caffeinated gurus at Starbucks. Yes, the mighty coffee giant has so far been MIA on Windows Phone, but things are starting to change.
Back at the beginning of August, Starbucks did release an app for Mexico and today, Russia gets ones too. We were planning to report on the Mexico app (the site WinPhollowers originally found it), but even Microsoft were unable to confirm its authenticity for us or future plans for the Seattle based company.
That tells us that Starbucks is going market by market akin to Domino's Pizza and not necessarily coordinating with Microsoft on a global level. Still, it is a sign of good things to come. Let’s take a look at each app.
Starbucks – Mexico; Windows Phone 7.x and 8
- My Rewards: Counts your Stars in the My Starbucks Rewards program and check your balance.
- Store Locator: Find your nearest stores and times
- Drink Builder: Create and share your perfect Starbucks beverages.
- Food and drink menu: Find Starbucks products and save your favorites.
- Coffee Menu: Explore the Starbucks Coffee menu for your perfect cup. Find it depending on the degree of roasting for each coffee.
That’s certainly a lot of features and it looks like Starbucks spent some significant time on building the app. Indeed it’s quite gorgeous and it’s even compatible with all Windows Phones, which is vital in Mexico since Windows Phone 8 devices are still premium.
Pick up Starbucks, localized for Mexico, here in the Store or scan the QR code below.
Starbucks – Russia; Windows Phone 8 only
- Coupons
- My Rewards: Counts your Stars in the My Starbucks Rewards program and check your balance.
- Store Locator: Find your nearest stores and times
- Drink Builder: Create and share your perfect Starbucks beverages.
- Food and drink menu: Find Starbucks products and save your favorites
The Russian version of the app is certainly laid out a bit differently than the one for Mexico, but it also features some handy features, including ones not found in the iOS app like coupons and store locator. This is made evident by the slew of complaints on the official Starbucks Russia page, where users are bemoaning not having those features for their iPhones while Windows Phone 8 gets them first.
As mentioned above though, this app is for Windows Phone 8 only. Users in Russia can grab the app here in the Store.
Does this mean an app for the US is in the works? We find it difficult to believe that Starbucks wouldn’t be looking to localize an app, but presumably due to the size of the US market, things are taking a bit longer. We’ll needle Microsoft to try and get more details, but for now we’ll have to wait on the sidelines.
