THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 15, 1996 TAG: 9604130105
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: TECH TRACK
GADGETS AND GIZMOS FOR THE NEXT CENTURY
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
IT'S THE WALK-UP window for the cyberspace generation. It's the pay phone of the next century. It's the public Internet kiosk and it's coming to an airport or hotel lobby near you.
At least so says AtcomInfo Inc., which debuted its ``surf-as-you-go'' kiosk at a San Diego technology showcase last month.
The San Diego-based AtcomInfo's target customer is the business traveler - that grimacing lugger of briefcases, suit bags and laptop computers endemic to airport terminals and conference centers. He or she can increasingly be found fumbling at public payphones with modems and calling cards, often muttering expletives that, for purposes of this article, are better left deleted.
Why fuss? says AtcomInfo CEO Peter Van Horne. Dashing to one of his company's kiosks, he says, ``I can quickly get on-line without the time and hassles of portable components and peripherals.''
Once on-line, you'll be able to do everything cyberjunkies hunger for: read and answer e-mail, call up stock quotes, communicate with Internet newsgroups and check out the splashiest new sites in that bright and bountiful on-line galaxy called the World Wide Web.
AtcomInfo anticipates charging customers $3 for 10 minutes or as much as $20 for an hour of on-line time when it gets its first kiosks up and running sometime later this year. Credit cards and debit cards will be accepted. For comparison purposes: you can now buy unlimited Internet access for your home computer for less than $20 monthly.
But this is America - land of the free-spending - and AtcomInfo thinks it will find a customer base. It claims to have already secured orders for 150 kiosks at hotels and other high-traffic public facilities. The host sites will get a 20 percent cut of AtcomInfo's revenues, which it estimates at $25,000 to $30,000 a year per kiosk.
Maybe it's on to something. Reportedly, other companies like General Motors Corp.'s Hughes Network Systems unit are also considering getting into the business.
One question still begs about this latest on-the-go innovation: will it serve up all our favorite junk foods too? MEMO: ``Tech Track'' appears Mondays in the Daily Break. Readers with ideas
for future columns are invited to contact staff science and technology
writer James Schultz at (804) 446-2599 or via e-mail at
schultz(AT)infi.net
ILLUSTRATION: ATCOMINFO
Public Internet kiosks soon will be available in airports and hotel
lobbies.
by CNB