[lbo-talk] Wi-Fi as "Dog Turd" Capitalism

[Westrich, James]

Karen Lowry writes about the wi-fi bubble:
 
http://www.msnbc.com/news/944632.asp?cp1=1
 
Andrew Orlowski (one of The Register's many good writers) comments:
 
"What the hard-headed but naïve V(enture) C(apitalism) has ignored is a simple fact: computers are expensive, and hard to use, and messy when you use them, and so you can't honestly ask a friend to part with money to use a Wi-Fi hot-spot no more than you can persuade them to step in a dog turd for a dollar. This market is too sophisticated to fall for such stunts. "
 
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/69/32116.html
 
I owned a Wi-Fi PDA (alas it was stolen recently while on the subway) and was surprised at how few free/easy hotspots there are.  Most shocking was my trip to Seattle at the end of May (great town, but not much non Starbucks Wi-Fi--it was easier to find a good free/cheap wired cafe than wireless).  I found Wi-Fi in airports to be nearly useless even in Boston, Seattle, and Chicago.
 
Jim
 
"John Henry said to his captain: 
'You are nothing but a common man,
Before that steam drill shall beat me down,
I'll die with my hammer in my hand.'"
 
 
 

 
 
 

	 

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