New research from In-Stat indicates that free WiFi does influence end users' choice of venue.
"Our research shows that while revenue may not always be directly gleaned from the hotspot offering, free Wi-Fi has a significant value in bringing customers to a venue," said Amy Cravens, market analyst with In-Stat. "It's no wonder then that over 150,000 café/retail venues have now deployed Wi-Fi hotspots, although not all of these are free. That's in addition to the tens of thousands of travel-related installations (hotels, airports, in-flight) worldwide."
In-Stat said nearly two-thirds of respondents to its survey said that free WiFi influences their choice of venue, while 31 percent said that free access "may" influence their choice. Five percent said free WiFi would have no influence over their venue choice.
The firm also found that that worldwide annual hotspot sessions will reach more than 2 billion by year-end 2010, with annual hotspot sessions to grow to more than 11 billion by 2014.
For more:
- see this release
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