Rather uninformed Newsweek story ignores current trends in predicting poor results for hot spots: I'd accept analysis that says that hot spots won't work out as planned, but not in an article that doesn't mention most of the largest networks, or explain the current push by cellular and wireline phone operators. It even recycles the bizarre Forrester prediction from Europe that a large percentage of people with Wi-Fi in their laptops and PDAs won't use Wi-Fi.
As I've said earlier this year, there is still a debate over whether the current generation of operators will all pull profits from hot spots. But the debate is long over as to whether the hot spot networks will be built out: the telcos have committed the resources, as has Cometa, and we will have 20,000 to 30,000 locations in the U.S. within the year. The budgets are written. The money does not have to be raised.
A more important question is: what happens when you have, say, 20 or 30 million Wi-Fi equipped people and 20,000 to 30,000 hot spots. Does the model shake out so furiously that no one can make money? Or does everyone subscribe at about $20 on their cell phone bill and the costs are covered? [via TechDirt]