Subject: [NEXTEL-1] McDonald's Expands in Wi-Fi, Aiming to Lure Hungry Surfers

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 14:46:36 -0400

McDonald's Expands in Wi-Fi, Aiming to Lure Hungry Surfers

By NICK WINGFIELD
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

In another sign of the growing availability of wireless Internet access,
McDonald's Corp. Tuesday plans to announce a big expansion of wireless service in
its restaurants with the addition of about 75 locations in the San Francisco Bay
Area.
McDonald's move, part of a pilot program, is the latest attempt by a high-profile
chain to capitalize on Wi-Fi, the wireless technical standard behind the
increasing popularity of high-speed Internet access among laptop users on the go.
Borders Group Inc., Starbucks Corp. and others have all begun to offer wireless
"hotspots" in their outlets, giving patrons the ability to check e-mail or surf
the net away from home or office.

The No. 1 hamburger chain, based in Oakbrook, Ill., has already installed wireless
Internet service in most of the planned 75 restaurants in San Francisco, San Jose
and other locations in the Bay Area, according to people familiar with the
matter.  McDonald's also plans to introduce wireless into Chicago area restaurants
and expand it to new locations in New York City, where it has offered wireless in
10 locations for several months.

McDonald's has said it will test Wi-Fi in several hundred restaurants in three
major markets by year's end. A spokeswoman for the company declined to discuss its
plans for San Francisco ahead of a planned event in that city Tuesday, but she
said offering wireless is "all about being the most convenient, relevant choice
for our customers."

McDonald's has been experimenting with different pricing schemes for charging its
customers for wireless access. In New York, the chain was offering an hour of free
wireless access with the purchase of a full meal during its initial promotional
period; the service is now completely free in New York until the end of the month,
said a spokesman for Cometa Networks Inc., a wireless provider that's working with
McDonald's in New York.
Wireless provider Wayport Inc.

(www.wayport.com) of Austin, Texas, is operating the wireless networks in
McDonald's locations in San Francisco. Intel Corp., which is behind a major
campaign to promote wireless usage, is testing the locations to ensure that they
work smoothly with laptop computers that use Intel wireless chips.

Many skeptics have questioned whether wireless providers and chain operators can
ever hope to profit from Wi-Fi, especially a chain like McDonald's accustomed to
fast customer turnover.  But analysts including Gartner Inc.'s William Clark say
restaurants are, in part, trying to use wireless to attract customers during
off-peak hours and to get them to spend more on food.

Analysts believe the wireless service is an effort to cater to a set called
"windshield warriors" like traveling salespeople who spend much of their time in
cars and for whom an ever-present chain like McDonald's could represent a
convenient place to check e-mail.

Write to Nick Wingfield at [email-masked]

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB105761282411858900,00.html?

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