Wifi Revolution

The hotspot market continues to experience a steady growth in deployed venues and usage, which is being driven largely by wireless and broadband providers embracing WiFi (News - Alert) as a competitive differentiator as well as an enhancement to core services.

In-Stat says that despite the continued growth in hotspot deployments, the underlying business model has been in a continuous state of definition and development over the past 10 years and is still a primary uncertainty in the future of the hotspot market.

"We are a decade into the introduction of hotspot services and the market is still working out the revenue model,” said Amy Cravens, market analyst, in a statement. “Initially the market was based on pay-as-you-go revenues, with providers hoping it would evolve into ongoing subscriptions and corporate accounts. And while there has always been a free access component, branded hotspot venues like McDonalds and Starbucks have made free access pervasive, which may lead to a public that is resistant to pay."

The recent research conducted by In-Stat (News - Alert) revealed that the annual venue growth is expected to remain strong over the next several years, but will begin to slow in later forecast years. Europe will account for 40 percent of worldwide venues in 2010. Europe and North America are the largest hotspot markets based on usage (annual connects) and on a per location basis, airport hotspot usage dwarfs all other venues with several thousand connects per month. It is also predicted that by 2012, handhelds are anticipated to account for half of hotspot connects

The In-Stat's consumer survey also identified security concerns as the top barrier to hotspot usage. Other top concerns are service availability and costs. The research also gives information on the worldwide market potential, usage, business models, and competitive analysis for the hotspot market; the worldwide venue forecasts segmented by region and type of venue; and the worldwide usage forecasts segmented by business versus consumer, by access device.

In-Stat's market intelligence combines technical, market and end-user research and database models to analyze the Mobile Internet and Digital Entertainment ecosystems. The company’s insights are derived from a deep understanding of technology impacts, close to 30 years of experience in research and consulting.