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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnG who wrote (27505)	10/5/2002 11:23:48 AM
From: jackmore	Respond to of 196696

Some interesting WiFi info from Seybold here: outlook4mobility.com WI-FI Survey and Report Our Wi-Fi Survey of Industry Professionals shows a great deal of interest in Wi-Fi (92% say they have an interest in making use of Wi-Fi hotspots), both among respondents who have previously used a Wi-Fi hotspot (46% or 129 respondents) and those who have not (54% or 154 respondents). However, we find interest tempered by the price point respondents say they are willing to pay for the service (versus price points being offered in the market today) and their willingness to pay a monthly fee even if they don't travel every month. Unlike wireless voice where a monthly fee usually includes a “bucket” of minutes that are used whether or not the subscriber travels, the real value of Wi-Fi access is its availability when customers are not in their primary business environment—when they are away from their corporate or home computers and need access to corporate information such as email and other data. The business model is, therefore, different in that many potential customers for Wi-Fi services are occasional customers who are not willing to commit to a monthly service plan. We also discovered that the vast majority of respondents * feel there are not enough “hotspots” yet deployed to make the service worthwhile today (70% of respondents), and * are not willing to contract with multiple “hotspot” providers in order to make use of the service (74%). Both of these points are significant for the Wi-Fi industry. Building out additional hotspots can be both time consuming and cash consuming. It appears to be the proverbial chicken-and-egg dilemma for Wi-Fi service providers. Providing a way to aggregate all of the networks into a single contract will be crucial. Indeed, Boingo’s business model as a Wi-Fi hotspot aggregator appears to be sound. However, survey respondents' unwillingness to pay a premium for this service does not bode well for the present pricing structure. Today's business models for companies such as Boingo and hotspot providers such as Wayport and others appear to be based on an assumption that Wi-Fi users will pay more for these services than our survey indicates. It is possible that new business models need to be explored and deployed. Metricom’s Ricochet network failed due to the lack of coverage (13 cities), because the service was priced at a premium ($70-80 per month) and because the target audience was made up exclusively of laptop users who have become adapt at finding and making use of slower but adequate dial-up services at little or no monthly cost. The trade-offs between ease of use, pricing of the services and data speeds are critical to the success of Wi-Fi hotspots. Our survey should provide interested parties with enough information to be able to address each of these issues and determine whether existing business models are viable or if new models are required. There is a high level of interest and potential demand for Wi-Fi services. That fact is well documented in the results of this survey and by a score of others. However, the demand is not without limitations when it comes to user cost, ease of use and convenience. If Wi-Fi is to flourish as a “hotspot” technology and attract a sufficient number of customers to become a viable service offering, this survey indicates that it will be necessary to combine Wi-Fi services with existing and new wide-area data services and/or new and different standalone business models. Companies that intend to continue building their business by offering hotspot access as their only business will find the return on investment versus the cost to deploy the hotspots to be out of balance. This survey was prompted by the number of emails we received commenting on an editorial that was published as one of our weekly Commentaries, which are available at no charge by signing up for them on our Web site at www.outlook4mobility.com. Most of our readers had a point to make, were interested in Wi-Fi hotspots or had a vested interest in their success. Based on this response, we crafted a survey and asked our readership to answer twelve questions. The results are presented in this report along with our comments and assumptions drawn from their answers. Those who purchase this report with the spreadsheet that is a respondent-by-respondent tabulation will be able to run a number of different cross-tabulations to slice and dice the data to obtain additional insights based on market segments. Single Paper Copy $199, Site license $399, Corporate license $999 Purchase now at our Store Outlook 4Mobility © 2002 Info@outlook4mobility.com

To: JohnG who wrote (27505)	10/5/2002 3:26:34 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 196696

John, in the interests of not blocking up this stream with competitor activities, I've replied here: Message 18077447 I've also written a bunch of posts there about it. Here's a link to the presentation they gave at the recent Convergence2002 show. wirelessdataforum.org.nz Do a SI search for RoamAD and you'll find the RoamAD posts. Also, take a look at: roamad.com Mqurice