In India, Intel's COO says Wi-Fi next big thing: In other news, he says water is wet, and pope Catholic. Intel's actions over the last several months are reminiscent of Microsoft's "the sleeping giant has awoken" behavior starting December 1995 when they "discovered" the Internet -- or rather realized that their MSN sandbox wouldn't hold all the kids.
Intel is wisely focusing on things they can deliver: reliable connections, standardized interfaces, good technical support and feedback, and chain-of-supply quality from manufacturing to OEM interaction.
The article contains notable errors, most obviously -- did you spot it already ... I can wait -- that there are 10,000 hot spots in Manhattan. In fact, there are over 14,000 access points in use, according to researcher Marcos R. Lara, but these are all manner of locations, not actual hot spots. There are maybe 200 to 300 actual intentional hot spots in Manhattan. (I've written AP, but they make it darned hard to report corrections.)