more on Good article on location vs. the network for Hotspots...

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Jonathan B Spira <jspira () basex com>
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 19:26:35 -0400
To: dave () farber net
Cc: jyunker () pyr com, rberger () ibd com
Subject: Re: [IP] Good article on location vs. the network for Hotspots...


Dave et al

I think that this article misses the point.  The incidental revenue a cafe
owner might obtain from Wi-Fi isn't at issue, even if the revenue model
increases in the cafe owner's favour.

The fact is that this revenue stream is so small (unless you are Starbucks
and aggregate it) that it doesn't necessarily pay to charge for Wi-Fi at
all.  I have recently noticed a trend in hotels, where they provide FREE
broadband.  It used to be hard to find a hotel with broadband in the room -
and now it's free.  In fact, we holding our next Strategic Thinkers
convention at the Hilton in San Diego because broadband is FREE.  That
greatly influenced my decision.

So a cafe owner might wish to offer free Wi-Fi - and make this very well
known.  I personally would go to a cafe with free Wi-Fi - even if it were a
few blocks out of the way.

These types of services are value adds - and cafe owners (and other
businesses) should stick to their knitting, to their core business, whilst
adding benefits and features that keep the customers coming in for more.

Cheers.

/s/ Jonathan

Jonathan B. Spira
CEO and Chief Analyst
Basex
E-mail: jspira () basex com
Tel: +1 (212) 725-2600 x113
www.basex.com
_______________________



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