“Barnes & Noble pioneered the concept of retail stores as community centers,” said Steve Riggio, CEO of Barnes & Noble, Inc. “By providing no-fee Wi-Fi access, we are not only meeting our customers’ needs, but extending the sense of community that has always been in our stores.”

Mr. Riggio added, “This is a natural progression of our digital strategy to provide customers with more choices in how, when and where they want to read.”

AT&T broadband connections – including wireline and wireless LaptopConnect cards – grew by 471,000 in the first quarter to reach 16.7 million in service. AT&T provides Wi-Fi access at no extra charge with qualifying AT&T high speed Internet plans, 3G LaptopConnect plans and select smartphone plans.

The number and type of Wi-Fi enabled devices continues to grow. In January, Sony introduced the world’s first Wi-Fi enabled digital camera with a built-in web browser and complimentary access to AT&T’s Wi-Fi network. AT&T is also offering wirelessly embedded mini laptops – the Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12, and LG Xenia — in select AT&T store trial promotions in Atlanta and Philadelphia. More than 4 million connections at AT&T’s U.S. Hot Spots in the first quarter were made with smartphones, including the iPhone 3G. AT&T is a leading provider of Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, including the BlackBerry® Bold®.

In the first quarter, Wayport Inc. - which AT&T acquired in December 2008 - began operating as AT&T Wi-Fi Services. Wayport’s footprint included hotspot locations in retail, hospitality and healthcare venues**.

“Our customers are showing us that they value both speed and mobility in their broadband connections,” said Angie Wiskocil, senior vice president – AT&T Wi-Fi Services. “As the leading U.S. provider of wired broadband services, with the fastest 3G network and the largest Wi-Fi network, AT&T can deliver a better experience for our customers where they live and work.”

“We are seeing Main Streets and business districts around the globe adopt Meraki’s WiFi solution as an amenity for businesses, consumers and tourists, and as a means to drive local economic growth” said Sanjit Biswas, CEO and founder, Meraki. “This Main Street WiFi Starter Pack is the kit a neighborhood or business district needs to bring full broadband wireless access to approximately one square mile, and it’s easier and faster to deploy, at a fraction of the cost of other solutions.”

This initiative would improve broadband penetration and public safety access by providing free Internet access to community anchor institutions and to the Monrovia Fire Department. The current broadband penetration rate is 35% in the City, well below the California average of 56%.

The project would overlay a dual band 2.4 GHz and 4.9 GHz network over the City, using BelAir Networks BA 100 S Strand mounted node. The nodes will ride upon the existing Champion network, eliminating pole and access challenges that have hindered many WiFi deployments. Arris will serve as Systems Integrator on the project.

The addition of the hotspots to the Boingo® Roaming Network in Sweden extends Boingo’s reach in the Nordic countries, and gives people more places to get online with their smartphones or laptop computers throughout the region.

The locations include: convenience stores and gas stations such as 7-Eleven, Bilisten, OKQ8, Pressbyrån and Statoil; hotels such as Best Western, Clarion Choice, Ibis Hotels and Quality Hotels; grocery stores and supermarkets, including City Gross, Coop Sweden, Hemköp and ICA; camping sites, including First Camp; retailers, like Wayne’s Coffee; as well as airports, marinas, train stations, and Surfzon Wi-Fi hotspots.

“Boingo continues to expand its network, and the addition of TeliaSonera Homerun is a critical addition to our Nordic and European footprint,” said Luis Serrano, vice president of network strategy for Boingo Wireless. “TeliaSonera Homerun’s comprehensive network is perfect for our Boingo Mobile customers who look for a high-speed solution for their Wi-Fi enabled smartphones to get directions, music, data and more while traveling.”

As well-known Wi-Fi blogger, Glenn Fleishman, stated in a recent article in Ars Technica: “BelAir Networks is known for powering the biggest public WiFi networks in North America: Minneapolis, Toronto, and Cablevision’s in-progress New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut network for its cable data subscribers.”

The Ruckus Smart WLAN products are currently being installed to provide high-speed Wi-Fi service across more than 750 acres of resort property, supporting more than 5,000 guest rooms. Sandals plans to use the new high-speed Wi-Fi network to support myriad applications ranging from reliable ultra high-speed broadband access for guests to digital signage, voice over IP, point-of-sale and video applications.

In a separate release:

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Ruckus Wireless announced that it was been selected by the Midland Hotel Corporation to provide Smart Wireless LAN systems as part of a $17 million renovation of Midland’s group of Holiday Inn hotels throughout Massachusetts.

The deal with Midland represents a major move by hotels around the world to leverage Wi-Fi as a more strategic asset – migrating Wi-Fi from a technology of convenience to a ubiquitous utility. In the last 90 days, over 100 hotels have standardized on the Ruckus ZoneFlex Smart WLAN system because of its ability to provide a much more economic and feature-rich wireless environment that does not require elaborate re-wiring or cumbersome deployment.

Other factors are affecting handheld usage growth as well. There is a predominance of mobile carriers in the hotspot market, resulting in promotion of Wi-Fi enabled handset devices on their networks. New dual-mode Wi-Fi phones are coming to the market. Growth in applications, such as content download, or even more so VoFi, will drive usage of handheld devices over the coming years. Finally, markets, such as China, are opening for hotspots that have previously restricted Wi-Fi usage on handhelds.

“The ubiquity of Wi-Fi has created hotspot coverage as an expected amenity at many places of business,” says Frank Dickson, In-Stat analyst. “While consumer or leisure users do not often carry a laptop, they do have Wi-Fi enabled handhelds and are using these devices to access hotspots. This, coupled with the service being bundled with mobile plans, is making hotspot access much more consumer-oriented compared to the service’s former business focus.”

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

* In-Stat estimates that hotspot usage will increase in 2009 by 47%, bringing total worldwide connects to 1.2 billion.
* Wi-Fi handset shipments have increased significantly over the past several years. From 2007 to 2008, shipments increased by over 50%. This growth is a result from increased phone functionality, falling price points, and carrier promotion.
* Wi-Fi-enabled entertainment device, such as cameras, gaming devices, and personal media players (PMPs) shipments will increase from 108.8 million in 2009 to 177.3 million in 2013.
The research, “Wi-Fi Hotspots: Cellular Handsets and Portable Devices Drive a Market Renaissance” (#IN0904521WBB), covers the worldwide market for Wi-Fi hotspots. It includes:

* Forecasts of mobile handsets with embedded Wi-Fi sales through 2013.
* Forecasts of hotspot venue and usage growth for North America, Asia, and Europe through 2013.
* Results and analysis of an In-Stat consumer survey.
* Provider segmentation and deployment analysis.
* Profiles of major players including AT&T, Swisscom, Boingo, iPass, and WeRoam.
* Discussion of emerging applications.

The financing round continues an eventful year thus far for WeFi, which has announced a number of new launches over the last few months, including a version of its software for the Google Android mobile operating system, an integration with mobile VoIP provider fring, the launch of WeROK - a mobile entertainment and communications portal powered by WeFi’s community-generated Wi-Fi network, and the opening of WeFiApps, a Wi-Fi powered application store for data-intensive mobile applications.

After having established itself as a leader in bringing open Wi-Fi hotspots to people around the world, WeFi has in the past year significantly penetrated the mobile market as well, making finding and connecting to a Wi-Fi hotspot easy for mobile users. WeFi automatically connects the user to the best connection available, as opposed to the tedious, multi-step process that previously existed. WeFi always seeks to connect users to Wi-Fi access points where Internet access has already been verified by other WeFi-enabled devices – dubbed “community-verified spots” - in a growing network of 30 million access points recorded. In addition, WeFi recently released its first generation of carrier-grade solutions for offloading mobile Internet traffic from congested 2G, 3G and in the future 4G networks onto Wi-Fi access points.

WeFi was established in February 2006. The company is incorporated in Delaware, U.S. with R&D facilities in Israel.

The acquisition expands the AT&T Wi-FiSM footprint to nearly 20,000 domestic hotspots, takes the company’s global Wi-Fi presence to more than 80,000 locations*, and creates thousands of new ways for customers worldwide to stay in touch. Millions of AT&T customers – plus millions of other consumers needing to connect on the go – will benefit from access to new hotspot locations served by Wayport. Wayport hotspots are in key locations, including select Wyndham, Marriott Vacation Club and Four Seasons hotels; HealthSouth and Sun Healthcare locations; plus McDonald’s restaurants.

AT&T’s global brand, marketing leadership and extensive enterprise sales force will complement Wayport’s expertise in enabling and managing applications over an integrated network. Wayport will also extend AT&T’s reach in the hospitality, health care, education and retail sectors.

“We’re seeing exponential growth of Wi-Fi-enabled devices — such as smartphones — combined with a continued dependency on 24/7, anytime, anywhere Internet access across business and consumer market segments,” said John Stankey, president and CEO, AT&T Operations. “Now is the right time for AT&T to affirm our commitment to Wi-Fi leadership. By acquiring Wayport, we’re giving consumers more ways to stay in touch and building a more robust network management solution for businesses. We’re bringing ready access to the nation’s leading Wi-Fi, wireless and IP networks — on a global scale.”