Would you like Fries with your Net?

Only in Japan though ...

[Woz]

Following on from grnidone's Google/I-mode [webmasterworld.com] thread, an article on ZDnet [zzdnet.com.com] reports that a deal has been struck to intall "Web Hot Spots" in MacDonalds across Japan allowing customers to "use their laptops or other mobile devices to surf the Web while they eat, turning company's nearly 4,000 restaurants into potential Internet cafes."

I also appears that NTT Communications, part of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone group of companies, has teamed up with another Hamburger Food Chain Mos Food Services.

Both are offering online access for a low minimum monthly fee, and perhaps also the facility to pay for the Hamburger order online.

As Bill states in the other thread, i-mode may not have taken off or be as user friendly as expected, but there are certainly pushes to make wireless access in general more acceptable. As Yuta Sakurai, a senior analyst at Nomura Securities, stated in the article, "Right now, they are jostling for position, and profitability is a secondary thing."

Certainly something to keep an eye on in the future.

Onya
Woz

(edited by: Woz at 1:34 pm (utc) on May 8, 2002)

[msgraph]

Just caught that on CNN's World Report. Thought it was funny that a fast food restaurant would set up something like that. But with so many people wired and on the move these days I guess it will come in handy for them.

[EliteWeb]

Burger Kings in a few locations in vegas and other cities did the whole internet thing too. they had it if you bought x amount or a number 5 you got x amount of time online.

[chiyo]

Im not sure about Japan, but in South East Asia where there is this crazy misplaced love of Western and foreign brands, fast food outlets attract a very different market than in the West. In some places like Thailand and Malaysia, the cost of fast food meal is much more than a traditional hawker stall meal, and many times than that prepared at home. In these places, fast food outlets attract the middle to upper middle classes, while in the West they tend to attract the working to lower middle classes.

Given that, providing internet connections in such outlets does not seem so crazy as the market is similar.

[bill]

McDonalds in Japan is more along the lines of fast and cheap...unlike the situation in SE Asia that chiyo mentioned. Like the West, you'll see a younger/family oriented crowd, and those are the people who would use the technology anyway. It sounds like a nice match.

I read somewhere else that one of these companies in Japan was setting up deals with some coffee shops for wireless access. can't find the article now It looks like they'll be charging a monthly flat-rate, renting a wireless access card, and offering service nation-wide.

I've gotta get me a laptop ;)

A lot of the cell phone companies are offering PC cards that offer great speeds and flat rate billing that I'm also interested in...that way I wouldn't be dependent on location at all. These figures are off the top of my head, so don't shoot me if I'm off, but the other week we had a test card from NTT in the office and it allowed for 144kbps transmission rates for about ¥3000 a month...I've heard the new 3G cards are able to transfer data at 300-400kbps which is really fine when you're between land lines :)

So many gadgets, so little expendable income :(

[keikei]

Suprised to see this news got this much reaction here.

I've also heard before Starbucks Japan (already over 300 of them all over Japan) is planning to launch something similar with some Japanese IT company. They should appeal more to business people than McDonalds I think. Well the same kind of talk has been everywhere...from train stations to bullet trains to airports.

Interesting to see how fast McDonalds can launch this!

[bill]

The thing is I don't really see that many people using their laptops or PDAs in places like Starbucks or McDonalds in Western Japan...maybe it's different in Tokyo. I guess they're expecting to change people's habits, have them spend more time in their establishment, and hopefully spend more money... Cell phone use is ubiquitous, and PDAs being used in public are still pretty rare compared to the US...However, I can't remember the last time I saw someone in a fast-food establishment using their laptop or palmtop. It seems to me that these wireless services are targeted at a laptop/notebook user market.

It will be interesting to see if this changes peoples use of technology...'hey, I'm going to McDonalds, get lunch and download the new Utada Hikaru video...'

[keikei]

Bill,
I completely agree with your point on McDonalds trying to change people's habits. In fact I just stopped by at McDonalds and saw a few "salary man" taking a nap :) There must be a better way to spend time there or at least McDonalds wants them to do other things to spend money.

Anyhow here is an interesting quick survey made by Japan.Internet.com today (out of 30o samples).

- 44% told they'd be interested in accessing the Internet via their laptop machines.

- 33% said it's too expensive to use (about $15 a month)

- 27% said the price is fair but they're not using anyway.

- 11% said it's cheap but still they're not using it.

- 29% said whatever the reason thet're likely to use it.

Seems the expectation is quite high!

[georged]

I think when you are eating, you don't want greasy stains, barbecue sauce, cola or bits of food anywhere near your laptop or mobile. I wouldn't anyway.

[bill]

georged I know what you mean ;) particularly with McDonalds...if I ever eat there, and that is very rarely, the last thing I want to do there is spend any more time than I have to. Starbucks on the other hand is a place that is more accommodating and is generally more comfortable to sit and spend more time in...so I could see the model being at least partially successful there.

Just this week I've been seeing a lot of Sony commercials for their My Little VAIO [sony.jp] it's a tiny little thing with an 867MHz processor, 256MB RAM, a 20GB HD and wireless card...These kinds of little gadgets are what will drive usage of a wireless service availability in places like McDonalds or Starbucks.

keikei, that's an interesting survey. If I'm reading it right, there's only a small committed minority who would use this (29%), but a huge chunk (44%) that at least expressed interest. That's more than I would have expected. The whole thing that would ruin it for me would be that I'd have to go to Starbucks or McDonalds to access the net...I'd find more use for one of those cards and access packages offered by the mobile phone companies here. For just a few yen more you can access the net from anywhere. I think they're really going to have to drop their fees to get anyone to use this niche service.

[bill]

And here's another one...
Sumisho Oil has launched Japan's first wireless local area network (WLAN) service at gas stations. [globalwirelessnews.com]
Given that there are virtually no self-serve gas stations in Japan I guess the biggest problem drivers over here will have is to find a laptop that will boot up faster than their tank can be filled up ;)