FON

FON has an interesting business model as it allows people both to gain revenue and to share for free (and to pay), but that is probably not the biggest concern. The major problem is that it may, arguably, incite violation of the Terms and Conditions of Broadband ISPs. However, whether it does or not is moot unless it can build up a critical mass of FON access points. According to Heise Online, in Germany it has acheived about 15,000 AP sales but only 1,650 access points are online at any one time. This is not precisely a smashing success.

However, FON has also recently managed to piggyback on Skype's new WiFi phone (from SMC) because Skype has realized that it needs to offer a WiFi router/bridge, and this is a perfect way to distribute FON-enabled access points. If the WiFi phone takes off this should greatly increase the number of FON APs. On the other hand I personally decided to use the Dualphone that was last week's "Gadget of the Week" instead of the WiFi handset even though the latter was €30 less because I felt the DECT voice quality and support of the POTS were critical factors. A number of people I have talked to seem to agree.

Thus, even though I'm probably not going to become a Fonero, FON is a fascinating company because it is working with both Skype(eBay) and Google. These days it seems that companies have to decide whether to be in the eBay camp, the Google camp, the Yahoo camp or the Amazon one...

It will be interesting to see how FON grows in the next year