Starbucks plugs new espresso machine

USA TODAY, November, 2007 by Bruce Horovitz

Starbucks may have figured out a way to make its near-$4 Caffe Latte seem like a bargain: It's rolling out a $599 Starbucks espresso machine this holiday.

For just the second time, Starbucks is placing its name on a high-end hot beverage machine. It co-developed the Sirena espresso maker with a likely partner: BMW's design team. Little wonder the highbrow machine, whose name means "mermaid," looks a bit like a BMW dashboard.

For Starbucks, it's all about image -- and sales. With its same-store sales growth slowing and its stock price seriously softening, the chi-chi coffee kingpin is refocusing on core customers with moola to spend by offering a larger assortment of upscale coffee products. It's trying to own the superpremium coffee-buying experience not only inside the store but at home.

"They want to own the world," says Al Wittemen, retail ...