ReveNews
Google Bids to offer Free Wi-Fi in San Francisco
This was quite an interesting post, as I had to ask Jim to open a category for Mobile Commerce.
I spend most of my time living in sunny Cape Town, South Africa and having recently been in San Francisco, I realise that I often take for granted how lucky we are down here in the “developing world”.
Here is the article that appeared in Yahoo News 
The wireless technologies that I personally utilize are:
GPRS - Global Packet Radio Service, which costs me about 30c (US) per megabyte of data to download emails and access the web via my Sony Ericsson P900. I can access GPRS on my cell from pretty much anywhere I usually travel (except the better part of the USA).
3G - This is the true standard for broadband wireless. I can plug my PCMCIA card into my laptop and have a 512k connection (which will be upgraded to 4096k in the next month or two), from virtually anywhere in Cape Town or South Africa. I can even work on the beach, while I’m catching a tan. (That’s a joke)
Wi-Fi - on my Playstation Portable & my Laptop
What’s the point of all this? Well, the fact that I am pretty much connected to the Internet 24/7, highlights the obvious demand there would be for a city that becomes engulfed in a cloud of Wireless Internet. In Cape Town, I never have a problem accessing the Internet from anywhere - but whilst travelling I do. For instance, I don’t have a dialup account in the US and have to rely on the Hotel’s Internet services or a T-Mobile Hotspot (where I have an account).
I don’t think that Google’s just doing it to “give something back to the community” - there are obviously some very interesting business models and strategies behind this move, so let me attempt to highlight the most obvious ones:
1. More searches on Google - I expect the Google.com will be the homepage to access the wireless.
2. More granular targeting of ads (local search) - by knowing exactly where the user is located, they would be able to serve advertising most relevant. For example, I was at Union Square last week in San Fran, and (if there was Wi-Fi), I would have been able to search for the keyword “Kenneth Cole San Fran” and be served advertising for the store at Union Square - very powerful - whilst using my Playstation Portable. It also takes Google a step closer to the holy grail of search - understand exactly what the user is searching for at the exact time that they perform the search - based on a number of variables, including location.
3. Taking market share away from competitors like AOL - why pay $20/month when you can get free WiFi in the city?
4. Connecting more businesses to the Internet - and hopefully increasing the number of advertisers in San Fran.
5. Opens the door to marketing services and products to tourists, who would rely on Google to search for a Cab or search for a good restaurant nearby, free at any hotel - without paying the ridiculous $15/day that most hotels charge for Internet access.
If Google wins the bid - expect convergence between the mobile & desktop to become a reality.
I’m sure there is a whole lot more - so please feel free to make comments.
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