Read this Business Computing World article by Devicescape’s own, John Lillie, as he makes the case for WiFi and 4G working together efficiently. The case for WiFi offload is never more apparent than today.
Dave Fraser, CEO of Devicescape answers questions from Robert Scoble of STBI about WiFi offloading and the pervasiveness of WiFi itself.
Robert Scoble of STBI interviews Dave Fraser, CEO of Devicescape
Everybody is used to free WiFi in coffee shops, airports and even restaurants, but perhaps less well known is the amount of WiFi in other public places, in particular retail stores. Our dashboard at Devicescape shows an increasing number of retail venues offering free WiFi.
Topping the list of places you might not expect to find WiFi are The Home Depot and Sam’s Club, but there are entries in our reports almost every day from Macy’s, Nordstrom, Staples, Safeway, Whole Foods Markets, Winn Dixie and Kroger. And then there are the malls too, with the Macerich owned malls coming out as our clear winners in providing WiFi access to shoppers every day.
Users Want It
Our Q4 survey shows that over 80% of respondents would be more likely to visit a store if their device could automatically connect to free in-store WiFi.
In many retail locations cellular coverage is poor or non-existent, so being able to have that “always on” data connection hop automatically onto a WiFi network makes a lot of sense. Even if you can’t call or text because your carrier connection has gone, you can still email, IM, Skype etc over the store’s WiFi network.
In Store Applications
Aside from keeping your customers connected (which prevents them leaving the store prematurely just to update Facebook or check for email), there are plenty of other in-store applications that WiFi can enable.
Other than pulling up data sheets, comparing prices and reading product reviews, which are all great applications for in store WiFi (especially if you are confident of your pricing), think about other ways retailers can connect with their customers. Here’s a few ideas:
And I am sure there are more apps out there that can take advantage of in-store WiFi connections just waiting to be imagined and implemented.
Is It Safe?
There has been a lot of scaremongering in the press recently about how accessing your bank account or your email at a public hotspot could reveal your password to somebody else at the same location. This is nonsense. Banks all use SSL to provide end to end encryption (i.e. from your device to their servers). Nothing in between can see the unencrypted data, even if the WiFi link is unencrypted. Email services and even social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter also use SSL. A secure WiFi link at home makes a lot of sense (if you can, choose WPA2 and use a long passphrase – you won’t have to type it very often). But that’s because you want devices in your house to be able to talk to each other easily to stream media or copy files between them.
If you’re connecting to a public hotspot with your computer, you should make sure you’re running with a firewall enabled to stop anything coming in (although most hotspots these days prevent traffic flowing between devices connected at the same location). Your phone is inherently safer since it runs less services that allow remote connection, but if you are one of those power users who has installed something that does allow for incoming remote connections (e.g. ssh on a rooted handset), make sure you use good passwords! Of course, as a power user, you knew that already.
One of the bigger stories from last week’s CES was the Ultrabook. Whether or not you agree with the oft-repeated dialog that Ultrabooks are merely Macbook Air copies — and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – you probably feel it’s a good thing that the PC makers are trying hard to make better products. Although I’m all for sharp design, lower weight, instant on etc, my own personal belief is that the PC world is somewhat missing the point with the current emphasis of the Ultrabook. The big picture isn’t about competing with Macs, it’s about the mass transition to mobile and how that affects the PC industry as a whole.
So, what’s my issue? I think that the least important difference between notebooks and today’s mobile devices is weight, design, and instant on. Those are all things that the PC industry should have been working on anyway. Even touch, which isn’t in evidence in the current crop of Ultrabooks but shows up in the roadmap, isn’t such as big of a factor given the rich interface of the PC. No, to me the biggest issue is around connectivity and the constant availability of the network.
Think about it. Your smartphone is constantly available to add value, whether it’s in your hand or nestled in your pocket or bag. Obviously it can announce a caller, but just as important it can perform background tasks such as syncing email, and it can alert you with reminders and notifications from the network. Your notebook, on the other hand, undergoes a digital frontal lobotomy and sinks into a network isolation chamber as soon as you close the lid or move away from a WiFi connection. Bridging the gap between the PC of today and the mobile world is much more about remaining useful, and relevant while we’re, well, mobile.
I want my next notebook to rest, but not sleep, and to be able to get me on the network automatically. It’s clear that most people don’t want to buy a cellular plan for their PC, but how about utilizing the enormous public WiFi network that’s already ubiquitous? That way I won’t be connected 100% of the time, but often enough as I walk down the street, grab a coffee, sit in the lobby of my hotel or hang out in the airport. With a network connection my notebook can meet a smartphone halfway. That’s an exciting step function into the mobile world and a compelling vision for all manner of devices which otherwise wouldn’t enjoy full time cellular connectivity. That’s the Ultrabook I want to see!
Written by guest blogger, Dennis Bland, Senior Field Engineer at Devicescape
You’re sipping your latte and surfing the web at your local coffee joint, just like millions of other people do every day. You’ve probably wondered about the security of your Wi-Fi connection, and it’s safe to say many articles have been written about it.
First, a summary of the most common methods to make your hotspot internet connection secure:
1. Visit websites with “https:” in the URL. In this case, your browser automatically creates an encrypted data “tunnel” between your browser and the server of the website you are currently browsing. This arrangement is required by law for on-line banking, and is almost always employed on any web page where you have to enter personal information such as a username/password or credit card information. It is important to point out that for this type of connection it does not matter what type of Wi-Fi connection you have, as the data is already encrypted. This method of security is very secure (assuming your web browser does not complain of a “certificate error”) because it encrypts the entire path from your web browser to the website server, including the wired connection over the internet backbone.
2. Use a pre-shared key such as a “WEP Key” or “WPA Passphrase” for the Wi-Fi connection. In this case, your internet data will be encrypted only between your device and the hotspot access point. There are various encryption methods available, and unfortunately the older methods such as WEP and WPA-PSK with TKIP can be easily cracked. The best Wi-Fi encryption available today is WPA-PSK with AES, but not all Wi-Fi hardware supports it. Older encryption methods provide a false sense of security, and the different encryption methods result in customer confusion – which is why this method is rarely deployed in public hotspots today.
3. Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) service. This is similar to the “https:” method above but always connects to a specific server location and encrypts all of your internet data used by all of your applications. This method of data security is commonly used by companies where employees work remotely but need to connect to the internal company network. Many VPN technologies are proprietary, so a specific VPN client needs to be paired with a specific VPN server.
In the summary above, the VPN service sounds like the killer app and the option of choice for secured browsing at public hotspots. But it has potential issues:
- You need to sign up for a VPN service which costs money. You aren’t going to use your employer’s VPN service for all of your personal web browsing, right?
- You need to install a VPN client on your device. There is a limited selection of VPN clients for iOS and Android smartphones available, so you will need to do your homework to make sure they are compatible with the VPN service you select.
- You need to log on to the VPN service after you make the Wi-Fi connection but before you actually start browsing the internet. It is another application to run and another set of credentials to type in just to use the internet.
- The extra encryption comes at a cost: increased CPU activity means decreased battery life and slower data throughput on your device.
- With a VPN service, ALL of your internet data is routed through a VPN server before connecting to your desired website. The VPN server could be on the other side of the continent, or on another continent. Your internet connection WILL be slower than a regular internet connection. If you are paranoid about security, keep in mind that the VPN service will have the ability to see all of your internet data, except when you visit “https:” websites.
It really boils down to how much security you really need. Using an open Wi-Fi hotspot connection and automatically encrypting your internet connection (using “https :”) only when you really need it for transmitting personal information provides the fastest internet connection and best battery performance. For the vast majority of people, this is perfectly fine. If you are concerned that people are going to see (or care) about the websites you browse, then you can get a VPN client with the tradeoffs mentioned above. But is it worth the extra time and effort? Do other people really care about what YouTube videos you are watching?
Michael has already taken a look at the Black Friday data we saw in our regular reports, and the reasons why WiFi might matter for retailers like Macy’s, Safeway and Home Depot to include free access in their stores.
I’m going to look at this data from a different perspective completely, and think about what we can tell just from the connection trends we see, and whether there is an additional value that a retailer could gain from their free service in terms of what they can deduce from usage. The bar graph to the right (click on it to get a larger version) shows the percentage change in number of connections for each day of the black Friday week compared to the preceding week.
As expected, all the networks in this sample showed a drop in traffic on Thanksgiving day. Interestingly, not to zero, but that might be partially explained by all the connection times being recorded in PST, so some of the early morning Friday connections from stores in more eastern time zones would have been counted as Thursday connections.
Foot Traffic
I’m sure all of these stores have detailed reporting on their sales over this period, but I don’t recall seeing any of those counters at the doors to these stores that could tell them how many people walk in & out. Our simple WiFi numbers can’t give an absolute number of course since not every customer has a Devicescape enabled smartphone (yet), but assuming the sample we have is representative of the overall population, we can say that foot traffic at Macy’s increased almost 300% from the previous Friday (and almost 500% from their average level – Fridays are typically a strong day at most of the retailers in this list).
Likewise, despite strong TV advertising campaigns (at least in this area), it looks as though the traffic into Home Depot was unaffected by Black Friday. I should add that Home Depot is near the top of our most connected networks always, so perhaps their ad campaign was successful in that they maintained those high numbers on a day that people might not normally have visited them. They were #4 out of the seven on the chart in absolute connections, compared to #3 the previous Friday (their normal daily position).
Short Term
Once you look past that impressive spike on Friday, the numbers, even at Macy’s, for the rest of the weekend dropped almost back to normal levels, suggesting that Black Friday really is a one day event despite attempts to extend the sales across the entire weekend.
ROI
An advertiser looking that the success of their campaigns in the run up to black Friday can of course look at their sales numbers to see how successful they were. But being able to see the change in the number of visitors to the store might highlight other issues that are affecting sales (for example, I can personally attest to the fact that while I went into Macy’s in San Francisco, the lines to pay were so long that I did not buy anything).
Smartphones
Unlike Starbucks and McDonald’s, smartphones are likely the primary connection devices for in store WiFi at places like Home Depot and Macy’s since few people will be pulling out a laptop, or even a tablet. What that means is that the potential number of connecting users is much higher, especially when the network is part of our footprint and their devices connect automatically. While that means more traffic over the network, it also means a higher likelihood of getting a statistically valid sample to use for estimating visitor counts etc. And the traffic from a smartphone is unlikely to be that much of an issue for a good WiFi network, especially if it is limited to price comparisons, web searches and perhaps a few product photos being sent to friends and/or family members.
Beyond Black Friday
While Black Friday provides a great way to highlight this type of data, being able to track changes in the foot traffic into the stores in response to advertising, nationally or locally, is a definite value that could easily be derived from these WiFi networks. In a large department store, like a Macy’s, the counts could even be grouped by department.
Even day to day variations might be interesting to some venues, for example we tend to see a jump in McDonald’s connections on Fridays every week (Friday night treat for the kids perhaps?). Likewise, Sundays are always a little lower for everybody (perhaps a good day to run special incentives).
Privacy
A discussion like this would be incomplete without some reference to privacy. What information does a retailer get when you use their network? Well, in the case of the seven in this report, they get little more than the MAC address of the WiFi radio in your phone from the connection alone. While these are unique, I don’t know of any mapping between that identifier and the person who owns the device (I don’t think the carriers even record the WiFi MAC address as part of your account information).
As with any third party network you connect to (open or not), they could of course see any non-SSL traffic sent to/from your device across their network. If you don’t use an SSL protected search, in theory they could see what you search for while in the store. By now, most email servers should be using encryption, as are most social networking apps, and of course, if you need to check your bank balance or credit card limit in store, those sites are all encrypted and invisible to the retailer.
Others retailers, like Tesco in the UK require you to sign in using a loyalty card account, so they can actually connect your visits to your account. It will be interesting to see whether that authentication step is too much of an impediment to widespread use (Starbucks here in the US started with that model and then dropped the requirement).
Black Friday has come and gone. As usual, the yearly craziness ensues such as all night shopping sprees, near-riots at retailers, and sadly, the occasional assault for merchandise or in this year’s case, pepper spray attacks. Now, the craziness will only continue as Chanukah and Christmas are upon us.
Here at Devicescape we took it upon ourselves to analyze Wi-Fi usage and trends that emerged across our network during this year’s Black Friday frenzy. Since our virtual Wi-Fi network is made up of publically accessible Wi-Fi hotspots found around the world in places such as cafes, department stores, restaurants, hotels and airports to random shops that offer Wi-Fi as an amenity to their customers, we are able to track activity and connections within these available Wi-Fi network environments.
What did we find?
The obvious insight was that because of our millions of users, connections to in-store Wi-Fi spiked dramatically versus the week before.
While the rise in connectivity is interesting, what gets my attention are the stores that offer some type of Wi-Fi service. Stores like Macy’s, Nordstrom’s and Barnes and Nobles bubbled up to the top of our network location list.
So is it a surprise that these stores offer this kind of value add to their customers?
For the average consumer, it probably is a surprise. But when you think about it some more, it shouldn’t be. Most stores already have the infrastructure to handle Wi-Fi which is most likely for their internal business needs. Think about it. When you see sales or stock associates with wireless handheld scanners, headsets, etc., that should be a clear sign that the technical infrastructure is in place. All it takes is a decision by someone within corporate to “flip a switch” and turn on the guest Wi-Fi.
What is the benefit to the retailer and the consumer if in-store Wi-Fi is switched on?
For the retailer, it’s a few things. Aside from business efficiencies, it keeps customers in the stores. How many times have you walked in a large department store only to find that it’s a black hole where you get no cell service, email or data? Connecting to the Wi-Fi alleviates this and keeps consumers shopping in their walls without having to leave to check their phone for messages and such. The future value will eventually be in mobile advertising and incentives. I wouldn’t be surprised if sometime in the near-term, it will be common place for a retailer to text a shopper walking through their doors with a coupon or promotional offering due to triggering the in-store Wi-Fi with their phone.
The benefit to consumers will be basic connectivity. The ability to communicate through whatever means as well as the ability to web browse on their phone would be an added value. Consumers can engage in product comparisons, price checking and potentially sharing deals via social media.
Below are a few retailers that popped up in our network location list whose in-store connectivity spiked on Black Friday:
A couple other interesting facts were that Home Depot displayed no significant change in connectivity even though they were promoting Black Friday deals. Separately, Best Buy showed up for the first time in our network which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. Shoppers trying to satiate their electronics fix would make Best Buy an obvious retailer to visit.
What does all this mean? Aside from the simple fact that our millions of users aren’t always shopping online, these increases show the impact of overall foot traffic at these various large retailers. More importantly, it shows that Wi-Fi isn’t just some coffee shop value add, it’s available almost everywhere we go as consumers. Don’t be surprised if you head to your local mall and you automatically connect to a store’s Wi-Fi network. For you it means continuous call and data connectivity. For the retailer, it means customer retention and more sales. For the wireless operator, it means they better get their affairs in order when it comes to offload strategy because the potential in costs savings is theirs for the taking if they leverage all of the available Wi-Fi at their disposal. The major retailers that showed up on our network locations list is a clear indicator that it’s pervasive and more common than we tend to believe. This list, as well as the connections that support it, will only continue to grow.
The case for data offload onto Wi-Fi becomes clearer to me every day. comScore just released its October statistics from its Video Metrix report and the current findings are astounding. For the month of October, they cite 42.6 billion videos have been viewed which translates to approximately 21 hours on average per viewer. It’s unclear how much data that really is but I think it’s safe to say that it constitutes A LOT.
Admittedly, these stats don’t break out what type of device is streaming the content. Therefore, it’s most likely a mix of desktop and mobile devices but in what quantities is uncertain. Even if streaming to mobile i.e. smartphones and tablets is the lesser of the two, we’re still talking large amounts of data being streamed across wireless networks. I can’t say with great certainty that the wireless operators are capable of handling the data presently across their networks without issue or even efficiently. We’ve all experienced problems when streaming content at one point or another, and I’m not just talking about movies or music. When it comes to simple web browsing, who hasn’t experienced lag? But what happens in five years or even ten as data usage grows, specifically video and other media. As the proliferation of mobile devices increases, so will the content that is streamed and viewed on them.
It’s safe to say that improved mobile devices and faster networks are the wave of the future. But I think it’s also safe to say that data overload and network congestion are the tsunami of the future as well. I would love to see how many videos are viewed in October 2016 and how the wireless operators are dealing with this data crunch.
Read the Techcrunch blog post on these findings here: http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/28/u-s-online-video-watching-reaches-record-high-in-october-with-42-6-billion-videos-viewed/
That sounds like a loaded question doesn’t it. By hearing that question out of context, one would most likely answer yes. Now let me bring it into context. A recent CNN article reported two malls in the US are axing programs that would track and survey shoppers in their venues through their mobile phones. The creators of the technology iterate that personal data like name or phone number aren’t captured. What are tracked though are movements which could be used to analyze shopping patterns and any other qualitative information such as survey answers which can also be collected.
Now assuming your data is anonymized, would you still be ok with a retailer tracking and communicating with you? What if through these mobile means, you would be able to receive in-store coupons or incentives? What if the opt-in/opt-out process were more obvious? If the privacy concerns are eased, wouldn’t these incentives add value to the customer shopping experience?
The proprietors of this mobile technology, Path Intelligence, compare it to online retail tracking. Online retailers are able to track customer habits, purchases and the overall user experience while still protecting the privacy of their consumers. By this rationale, it seems to make sense. Although I do believe people still need the perception of choice. By allowing an opt-out mechanism, this at least gives a shopper the ability to not participate in this engagement.
The mobile touchpoint and content streaming through it is not just a headache for wireless operators but for the downstream players such as retailers who choose to leverage the power of wireless connectivity and growing mobile device usage. Free wireless for all I say but it’s situations like this that make one cautious and think about the rules and structure around the idea.
Read the CNN article here: http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/28/news/economy/malls_track_shoppers_cell_phones/index.htm?hpt=hp_t3&hpt=hp_c1
The holidays are almost here and Black Friday, a retail phenomenon during the holiday season, signifies the kickoff of retail madness. That day is slowly being overshadowed by Cyber Monday, the following Monday where retailers are encouraging customers to shop online. As stores are trying to find other selling channels and methods to attract customers, mobile commerce is soon becoming relevant to the retail industry.
Now where does Wi-Fi fit in all of this? Wi-Fi has already been a common staple in coffee shops and various eating establishments. In fact, whenever one walks into a Starbucks or McDonalds, it’s almost expected to see someone browsing the internet on their laptop, tablet or smartphone. Scanning the 5 million global hotspots in the Devicescape Virtual Network, I can see that’s it’s more than just coffee shops or fast food restaurants. I’m surprised to learn that retailers like Home Depot, Macy’s and Safeway are constantly showing up in the network.
So what does this mean? It means that Wi-Fi is more pervasive that we think. It means that it’s not just in your home or at some select store. It means that retailers are giving access to their Wi-Fi network to add customer value and provide another means of shopping within the store, whether it entail price checking, product availability or advertising opportunities.
In a recent Retail Gazette article, a UK phone retailer announced in-store Wi-Fi to allow customers to demo live web surfing when browsing smartphones. Its actions like these that can make or break a sale. If product demonstration isn’t the goal, how else can Wi-Fi be leveraged to provide a positive customer experience? The obvious reasons are price checking and product comparisons but the hidden gem in in-store Wi-Fi is mobile marketing. Imagine walking into a clothing store and all of a sudden receiving a discount offer on shoes or walking into a supermarket and receiving text coupons on your smartphone. The ability to advertise, upsell and encourage consumers who walk through the doors and immediately connect to a retailer’s network is huge.
Getting consumers to understand that Wi-Fi is everywhere is undoubtedly a challenge. But I think for that to happen, retailers will first need to be convinced that it will only add value, if not revenue to their businesses. Without this penetration, we’ll go on to think that Wi-Fi is only a luxury meant for coffee houses and select restaurants. Well, judging by the amount of people that buy coffee and sit in a Starbucks for hours on end, I’m sure management at this multi-billion dollar company isn’t complaining that they’re one of the few companies on the block getting people to walk through their doors to buy coffee and use their free Wi-Fi connection. Time for retailers to take note!
