Show Us The WiFi Money
Earlier this week, we posted an interview with Larry Brilliant from Cometa, where we felt he said some questionable things about where their business was heading. This Red Herring article about Brilliant and Cometa doesn’t ease any of those worries. Brilliant says he’s trying to keep the hype level low, though there’s been plenty of evidence that isn’t true. Cometa has been one of the more hyped startups lately. Furthermore, their strategy (repeated a few times) of going after the “windshield warrior” sounds eerily like Metricom’s claims of going after the “mobile professional” with Ricochet – a strategy that failed spectacularly. Companies seem to overestimate just how many “wireless warriors” there are, and how much they’re willing to pay for occasional internet access.
