If the wireless LAN hotspot market prospects are measured by current activity levels, then they are not merely bright but brilliant. But, the diverse venues associated with Wi-Fi hotspots, from coffee shops and bookstores to airports and train stations have a crucial bearing on their profitability and indeed their viability, and only some venues will prove profitable.

To help you understand the dynamics of this exciting new market, Forward Concepts is pleased to offer this in-depth study of the hotspot market. The purpose of the report is not to contribute to the hype, but to examine as dispassionately as possible the real market potential for what is in truth not a completely new type of service offering nor one that has followed any single business model. We see the emergence of hotspots as almost a textbook case of effective repurposing of technology, but a closer look reveals some troubling deficits in the market thus far.

In most cases where repurposed technology has succeeded in big way, such as the Internet, it has exhibited a strong grass roots component in terms of the user base. In hotspots to-date the grass roots aspect of the phenomenon resides in the service providers themselves, which are often very small, single-location businesses linked in some kind of franchise arrangement with a hotspot aggregator or platform developer. Unless hotspots inspire a similar degree of enthusiasm among subscribers, the same fate could befall the hotspot industry as befell e-commerce at the turn of the millennium, where similarly vendor enthusiasm far outstripped market acceptance.

Unlike most telecommunications service offerings, hotspots are not commodity services. The value of the access is determined to great extent on where the access is provided and to whom. Accordingly, this report differentiates between and among the various venues and assesses their profit potentials and liabilities separately. It also indicates which network operators are concentrating on which venues and markets and evaluates their respective successes to-date within defined markets.

TOPICS COVERED:

• Hotspot Definition
  
• Origins & History
  
• Economics & Logistics
  
• Standards
  
• Wi-Fi Competitors
  
• Service Pricing
  
• Return on Investment
  
• Market Segmentation
  
• Vendors & Service Providers
  
• Infrastructure & Support
  
• Representative Company Listings
  

VENUES EXAMINED:

• Hospitality
  
  • Airports
    
  • Hotels
    
  • Convention Centers
    
• Transport
  
  • Trains Subways & Stations
    
  • Airplanes
    
  • Cruise Ships
    
• Around Town
  
  • Cafes & Restaurants
    
  • Shopping Malls
    
  • Internet Pay Phones
    
  • Parks & Plazas
    
  • Citywide Networks
    
  • Retail Chains
    
• Other Venues
  
  • Marinas
    
  • Experimental
    
  • Freenets
    
  • Enterprise Hotspots
    

MARKETS FORECASTS THROUGH 2007:

• Hotspot Growth by Company (2001-2002)
  
• New U.S. Hotspot Installations
  
• U.S. Installed Hotspots
  
• New Asian Hotspot Installations
  
• Asian Installed Hotspots
  
• New European Hotspots
  
• European Installed Hotspots
  
• U.S. Annual Sessions
  
• European Annual Sessions
  
• U.S. Hotspot Revenues
  
• European Hotspot Revenues
  

Who will benefit from this report?

• Venue Operators
  There will be winners and losers among the different types of venues, at least in respect to their potential for being profitable. We believe that it is best to consider the hotspot phenomenon as cluster of loosely related markets rather than a single business and that take rates are most meaningful within individual markets rather than industry wide. This report analyzes the likelihood of hotspot success in each of many different settings.
  
  
• Service Providers
  Whether your company is a traditional telco, a wireless carrier, an Internet Service Provider, an aggregator, a carrier’s carrier, or an independent hotspot network provider, you can benefit from the valuable insight provided in this report. The broadband backbone is the base expense in hotspot implementation and this report can be helpful in understanding the economics of various approaches.
  
  
• OSS, Billing & Management Software Providers
  Wi-Fi hotspots are much simpler systems to administer than traditional circuit-switched telephone networks, and the operator does not confront the same problems in managing wildly heterogeneous, interlinked networks and subnets as faced by major telcos. However, profitable hotspot implementations require Operations Support System (OSS), billing and network management software. This report won’t provide all of the answers, but it provides a good overview of what’s required.
  
  
• Hardware Suppliers
  Only a handful of manufacturers make hardware specifically for hotspot access points, but all Wi-Fi equipment providers have presence in this market. The hotspot and usage forecasts in this report can be a big help in planning your company’s equipment marketing strategy.
  
  
• Strategic Planners
  This report provides the forecast data you need for your company’s business and budget planning. The market dynamics of the hotspot market are presented in great detail, and will help you in providing knowledgeable direction for strategic decisions.
  

About the Author:

Daniel Sweeney, Ph.D., is a widely published writer in the field of telecommunications and high technology. Formerly executive editor for America’s Network, he has also written for Lightwave, Interactive Week, CIO, Forbes High Technology, Electronic Business, Wireless World, Wireless Week, and many other leading business publications. He has also covered energy, military technology, consumer electronics, and materials technology, and has performed due diligence and confidential technology assessment for a number of venture capital firms. Dr. Sweeney has a B.A. in English from UCLA and two advanced degrees from Florida State University.

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