Ever heard of the law of attraction?
Well in human land it roughly means that you get what you put out, so if your a happy soul, your life should in theory be filled with other happy people. Miserable sod? Yeh you guessed it, your going to be hanging around with depressing bas****s.
In internet land however, it means whatever is free, let me in.
Free Internet at vending machines:
And with such a simple concept in mind a Japanese vending machine now offers people close to the machine free access to its very own free Wi-Fi hotspot, this will cover around 150-200 feet and will be a pretty sure fire way to bring in a crowd, who, by playing a simple numbers game, will be more likely to go and spend a penny on the machine, though we are unsure if it doubles as a real toilet also, but may need to if it ends up getting peed on by dogs and an enraged public if it fails to live up to exceptions, free can come at a price..;)
Asahi soft drinks owned:
The free Wi-Fi on offer has a 30 minute time limit, with a dead simple workaround of simply logging back in again after your allotted free minutes are up. A rumoured roll out of around 1000 vending machines by Asahi is also on the cards throughout 2012, with talk of another 10,000 being pushed out over 5 years. This intriguing wi-fi hotspot could well take on as a concept further a field if it proves successful, colleges and universities would be a great place I imagine.
Would this make you happily hang around a vending machine if it meant you could get a little bit of Wi-Fi access for free? And if so, does this herald the start of a freemium model that we will see taking hold in more intriguing places such as beauty spots, and other areas that an internet connection could prove useful in?
Source: Asahi
Anthony Munns