Apple (AAPL) and Starbucks (SBUX) use iPhone to combine two urges into one

Starting tomorrow, according to the New York Times [registration required] at certain Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) stores, owners of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones will be able to hear a song while sipping their coffee and immediately purchase and download it to their iPhones.

This reminds me of an episode from Seinfeld in which George Costanza says: "Food and sex, those are my two passions. It's only natural to combine them." Here, the two needs are a little different -- overpriced coffee (Starbucks) and music on a phone (Apple). Before these companies came along, people didn't realize they had these needs. But now, they realize they need both and appear poised to pay to have them combined.

Specifically, anyone with an iPhone or iTunes software loaded onto a laptop will be able download the songs they hear over the speakers at these Starbucks stores directly onto those devices. The price will be 99 cents a song. The concept is being introduced in around 600 cafes in New York and Seattle only. Users sign onto the cafe's WiFi network to discover what song is playing over the Starbucks speakers. With a few taps, users can download the song onto their iPhones.

Unlike George Costanza's twin passions, this combination of two services will be something that is apparently OK to do in public. Whether it's profitable for both companies remains to be seen.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Apple or Starbucks.