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 THE STAT 26Percentage of wireless customers who use their cell phones to take picturesMore Vitals
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MARCH 18, 2003 SPECIAL REPORT: THE SQUEEZE ON WIRELESS The Magic of Wi-Fi [Page 2 of 2]
The chip giant is also behind plans to offer hot spots at 400 Borders Book & Music stores (BGP ). And on Mar. 12, Cometa Networks, a startup backed by AT&T (T ), IBM (IBM ), and Intel, unveiled hot spots at 10 McDonald's (MCD ) restaurants in New York City. McDonalds plans to "unwire" 300 restaurants by the end of the year. And you can start looking for Wi-Fi at hotels, too. According to Boston-based Pyramid Research, 25,000 of them will offer Wi-Fi by 2007, up from just 1,000 in 2002. The reason: Business travelers are demanding high-speed Internet access. And Wi-Fi is less intrusive and cheaper to install than traditional wired solutions, costing on average about 25% less, Pyramid says. Already, Wi-Fi is available for free in the lobbies of 150 Wyndham hotels and the lobbies of select Hyatt and Omni Hotel properties, among others. SOAP, IRONS, AND WI-FI? Smaller hotels also are jumping on the bandwagon. The Hampton Inn in Auburn Hills, Mich., spent $33,000 to install Wi-Fi, which it offers free to guests in all 124 rooms. The response has been tremendous, according to General Manager Tom Keller. On average, between 20 and 40 guests log on each day. Keller even provides wireless cards and a CD with the necessary drivers for laptop-lugging guests who've never used Wi-Fi. "If I can get them to stay one extra night, it pays for itself," says Keller, who sees Wi-Fi as giving him an advantage over competing hotels. Moreover, after people try Wi-Fi at airports, hotels, and McDonald's, it won't be a huge leap for them to buy their own $50 Wi-Fi card and begin linking their homes and offices. Soon enough, people will come to expect Wi-Fi wherever they go. Keller predicts that it won't be long before hotel guests expect free Wi-Fi, just as they expect hair dryers, irons, even soap. That's probably a few years off, since Wi-Fi still faces several challenges. Security is a major concern. If a salesperson is going to log into company databases from an easy chair in a hotel lobby, corporate technology departments want to be sure that the hacker sitting in the next chair can't. And if Wi-Fi service providers, such as Cometa Networks, Wayport, and Boingo, are going to persuade corporations to adopt the technology, the providers will have to cooperate with each other to offer a truly international network. After all, no one is going to want to pay to log in only at McDonald's or only at the airport. Ultimately, Wi-Fi's usefulness will depend on its ubiquity. GRASSROOTS DEMAND. Of course, dozens of startups are planning to take on those challenges. Bluesocket in Burlington, Mass., is developing a family of wireless gateways that aim to enhance security and control user access. RovingIP.net, based in Bellevue, Wash., provides billing software for Wi-Fi service providers. Intel Capital is backing many of them with its $150 million commitment to Wi-Fi venture investments. Pyramid Research analyst John Yunker says grassroots demand for Wi-Fi means it's only a matter of time before such challenges are overcome. Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." That's certainly true for Wi-Fi. And a little magic is just what beleaguered tech companies and road warriors could both use right now.
 By Jane Black in New York Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | MARCH |
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