Internet Marketing Solutions

Verne Kopytoff, Ryan Kim,
Chronicle Staff Writers

Saturday, October 1, 2005

Google Inc. has offered to blanket San Francisco with
free wireless Internet access at no cost to the city, placing a marquee
name behind Mayor Gavin Newsom’s effort to get all residents online whether
they are at home, in a park or in a cafe.

The offer by the popular Mountain View search engine was
one of more than a dozen competing bids received by the city before its
deadline Friday. Officials will review the submissions and decide which, if
any, of the candidates gets the green light to build the so-called Wi-Fi
service, which would be free or inexpensive for users.

In joining the competition, Google is showing yet another
sign of its ambition. In the past few months, the company has released a
succession of new products, including instant messaging and Internet
telephone calls, that take it further from its roots.

The proposal raises speculation that Google intends to
create a free national Wi-Fi network, a business in which the company has
limited experience. If so, it could pose a serious challenge to existing
Internet service providers such as SBC-Yahoo, Earthlink, Comcast and
America Online, which charge subscriptions for wire
connections.

read the rest of the article …
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The bold emphasis above is mine. Could Austin be next? Would this include
WiMAX.com technology? Lots of questions, for sure.  We’ll have to wait
and see.

It’s interesting to see how pervasive Google may be soon in our lives
online – wired and potentially wireless.  In 2006, all the major cell
phone companies will be offering broadband wireless capability in most
metropolitan areas in the USA. Some, like Verizon, are already pursuing
this quite aggressively. Makes you wonder what SBC and Time Warner must
be worrying about. 

Stay tuned. This coming year is going to bring even more change than
2005, especially when you match all this up with the expansion of audio
podcasting content and video podcasting content. Google clearly wants to
extend Adwords all across the wired and wireless markets.

Tom