Someone always profits during economic contractions and this year is the year of conserving cash. Apple, AT&T, McDonald's and Wal-Mart stand to do well feeding from the bottom up.
McDonald's is quietly running a campaign to move into the Starbuck's space of providing coffee and WiFi access to customers. What great timing to leverage cheap burgers, fries and drinks with access to Arch-Net (I'm embellishing). The Arch Card is the current McDonald's gift card.The Arch card is a gift card available for purchase at your local McDonald's and with it are some incentives for FREE or not so FREE WiFi access. Their online portal seems to be waiting for more information since you can either purchase WiFi access for $2.95 for two hours of access, purchase a subscription or get FREE WiFi (coming soon?).
McDonald's struggled for years over its menu (I remember doing case studies in the 1980s) to keep their menu updated, profitable and in demand. It appears that their coffee bar is enjoyed and visited by many and because they do have a presence that makes other competitors want to be in the same neighboring area; customers aren't stretched to find those golden arches offering a wider range of store hours.
Wayport was one of the larger providers of WiFi setup the WiFi services for McDonald's and was acquired by AT&T in November 2008. Look at the coverage map here for Wayport and you can quickly see and appreciate the McDonald's U.S. presence.
Analysis: Will WiFi remain FREE? Nothing is FREE, just like FREE VoIP calls (Irwin, I do hope this idea is dead, I do, I do, I do). However you get hooked, you will pay. Maybe it's buried in the price of the burger, fries or drink but if FREE WiFi gets you in the store, then McDonald's has accomplished what Starbucks is struggling to do. The better, faster, cheaper, simpler model is on McDonald's side. PCs are out and PDAs & Smartphones are in and available at Wal-Mart. The need or want of being connected and available is surging and I think by year's end we will see this by way of numbers of devices (growth) and low-end subscriptions. While the economy is quickly cooling, human behavior is a funny thing. Someone always profits during economic contractions and this year is the year of conserving cash. Apple, AT&T, McDonald's and Wal-Mart stand to do well feeding from the bottom up. Earlier last year the FCC attempted to launch a nationwide FREE WiFi initiative that stalled. McDonald's competitors are offering FREE WiFi or at least attempting too. McDonald's is estimated to provide 10% of American's with FREE WiFi access. Also Note that an Un-lock or Jailbreak (Yellowsn0w) application for Apple's iPhone is in BETA and this is good news for other Cell carriers and Apple is (rumored) to be manufacturing cheaper iPhone Nanos and this is great news for thrifty consumers.Someone always profits during economic contractions and this year is the year of conserving cash. Apple, AT&T, McDonald's and Wal-Mart stand to do well feeding from the bottom up.
