Wireless Internet Co. Cometa Closes
Grok Headline matches for Wireless Internet Co. Cometa Closes
Wireless Internet Co. Cometa Closes (AP)
Wireless Internet Co. Cometa Closes (AP)
05/19/2004 04:15 PMAP - A company that equips coffee shops and bookstores for wireless
Internet offerings is shutting down, casting doubt on a business niche
many analysts had considered a sure bet.
Cometa closes as investors shy from
wireless Internet access
Cometa closes as investors shy from
wireless Internet access
05/20/2004 03:52 AMAP via New Jersey Online May 20 2004 8:07AM GMT
Cometa Networks Closes Its Doors
Tomorrow
Cometa Networks Closes Its Doors
Tomorrow
05/18/2004 02:40 PMAccording to several sources, Cometa Networks will cease operations on
Wednesday: Wi-Fi Networking News was able to confirm through multiple
independent and reliable sources that Cometa Networks will be shutting
its doors as early as tomorrow. An anonymous email this morning
triggered our queries; it seemed dubious. However, we were able to
confirm the news independently. It's also noted in a posting on the
obscene but generally accurate F'dcompany. Messages left earlier today
with the firm's outside PR company and with Cometa's VP of marketing
were not returned by noon. Cometa Networks was funded by Intel
Capital, the company's investment arm, and two venture capital firms.
AT&T and IBM committed resources to the project as well. From the
start, Cometa was treated as dubious by many established players in
the industry due to their frequent claims that they would install
20,000 locations with Wi-Fi service within two years of their Dec.
2002 launch. Their model was to resell these locations to cell
operators and other partners of that scale, as well as to aggregators
like iPass. After more than a year of operation, Cometa had a handful
of partners and about 250 locations, including 150 trial service
hotspots set up with McDonald's in the New York tri-state area and
Seattle and most of the rest across many kinds of venues in their
Seattle test market. But McDonald's chose Wayport to install Wi-Fi in
its over 12,000 domestic U.S. stores and franchisees. This decision
quickly caused Toshiba, another McDonald's trial partner, to close its
hotspot operation and work to transfer locations to Cometa. Cometa was
able to announce that Barnes & Noble had chosen Cometa to build
and resell access to its over 550 U.S. bookstores, which seemed like a
big step in Cometa re-establishing itself as a growing operator with
locations that were worth reselling and aggregating. Cometa put a
brave face on its future in an interview with Wi-Fi Networking News on
April 21, 2004. The company's CEO and a vice president painted a
picture of a more conservative growth pattern that reflected more of
the pattern followed by FatPort and Surf and Sip, smaller but steadily
growing hotspot operators that emphasized partnerships, reselling, and
cash-flow positive short-term goals. Unfortunately, for reasons that
are murky at the moment, the company will be no longer be operating as
of tomorrow. We expect more details to be available in reports
later...
Wi-Fi Networking News: Cometa Networks
Closes Its Doors Starting Tomorrow
Wi-Fi Networking News: Cometa Networks
Closes Its Doors Starting Tomorrow
05/19/2004 06:01 AMWi-Fi Networking News was able to confirm through multiple independent
and reliable sources this morning .. Cometa is shutting down
tomorrow
wifinetnews.com/archives/003349.html
track this
site | 5 links
China closes Internet bars
China closes Internet bars
06/07/2004 12:20 PMp2pnet.net Jun 7 2004 3:44PM GMT
China closes down 16,000 Internet cafes
in three months
China closes down 16,000 Internet cafes
in three months
06/02/2004 02:16 AMDeutsche Welle Jun 2 2004 5:45AM GMT
Peshawar University closes Internet
cafes
Peshawar University closes Internet
cafes
07/03/2004 07:52 PMDaily Times Jul 3 2004 11:50PM GMT
Government closes down 16,000 internet
cafes in three months
Government closes down 16,000 internet
cafes in three months
06/02/2004 05:41 AMChina.scmp.com - Wed Jun 2, 08:29 am GMT
Chinese crackdown closes thousands of
internet cafes
Chinese crackdown closes thousands of
internet cafes
04/27/2004 10:22 AMABC Online Apr 27 2004 2:02PM GMT
British Internet Firm Closes Activist
Site
British Internet Firm Closes Activist
Site
12/22/2003 05:34 AMScotsman Online Dec 22 2003 4:16AM ET
BaBaoDex Closes Higher With China
Internet Zest Rekindled
BaBaoDex Closes Higher With China
Internet Zest Rekindled
06/24/2004 04:41 AMEinnews.com - Thu Jun 24, 09:11 am GMT
Fathammer Closes Investment Round with
Nexit Ventures and 3i to Strengthen
Technology and Expand Game Production on
the Fast Growing Wireless Gaming Market
Fathammer Closes Investment Round with
Nexit Ventures and 3i to Strengthen
Technology and Expand Game Production on
the Fast Growing Wireless Gaming Market
09/09/2004 03:44 AMNexit Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on next generation
information and communication technologies, and 3i, Europe's leading
private equity and venture capital company, today announced an
investment in Fathammer, a leader in advanced mobile gaming. Nexit
Ventures co-lead the investment round of 4 million euros with 3i, a
previous investor of Fathammer. The investment will be used to
intensify Fathammer’s sales and marketing efforts globally, especially
in fast-growing Asian markets. [PRWEB Sep 9, 2004]
Nebo Wireless Announces International
Wireless Link for Dialup Internet Access
Nebo Wireless Announces International
Wireless Link for Dialup Internet Access
06/05/2005 11:18 PMThis new product release from Nebo Wireless LLC, North Andover,
Massachusetts, USA, gives dialup Internet subscribers outside North
America the advantage and convenience of wireless access for under
$50.00 US Dollars. Click on www.nebowireless.com for additional
information. [PRWEB May 30, 2005]
How We Got That Cometa Story
How We Got That Cometa Story
05/22/2004 03:38 PMFor those interested in navel gazing journalism, read my account of
how Wi-Fi Networking News broke the Cometa Networks story: Other sites
and publications were sometimes gracious, sometimes not about
assigning us credit for having been the first to report on the event.
Why does this matter? Because more and more breaking news important to
the people particularly interested in the subject is appearing on Web
logs, not in newspapers or on media Web sites. Trying to subtract from
this forum and similar fora's ability to report is an attempt to
lessen the legitimacy of the work we're doing here....
Cometa falls from the sky
Cometa falls from the sky
05/18/2004 07:36 PMCometa Networks Inc. plans to announce Wednesday that it will shut
down, after its investors and board of directors decided to pull the
plug on the fledgling Wi-Fi hotspot service provider, a spokeswoman
for the company said Tuesday.
Cometa and Toshiba: And Then There Was
One
Cometa and Toshiba: And Then There Was
One
04/20/2004 02:01 PMWith tiny scattered networks and the loss of McDonald's, Toshiba's
SurfHere locations fold into Cometa Networks: As rumors surfaced a few
weeks ago about a reduction in force at Toshiba's SurfHere division
coupled with the inevitable reason--McDonald's had already informed
them that Wayport would be their anointed partner--Toshiba is
essentially exiting their poorly formulated and executed hotspot
strategy. While Toshiba couldn't gain traction on its turnkey hotspot
offering, Cometa gains the ability to include "some or all"--as the
press release puts it--of SurfHere's hundreds of locations. Reading
between the lines, they can cherry pick outlets that make sense to
Cometa's mission. Cometa's current count of hotspots in their
directory is about 100 excluding the McDonald's that will be taken
over by Wayport. The Barnes & Noble deal, a year in the making, will
eventually add 500 locations in the U.S. to Cometa's list. Toshiba is
a massive computer manufacturer, however, and the press release
pledges their involvement in promoting Cometa Networks' hotspots. A
tricky affair, since Cometa has long said that they weren't branding
their hotspots, but rather pushing through resale to brands like cell
operators. Publicly held companies rarely like to admit defeat as it
can open them up to shareholder lawsuits and stock drops. But the
press release pushes a little too hard. "Having helped stimulate the
emerging hotspot industry, we believe we can best continue with the
strategic intent of the SurfHere Network through this alliance with
Cometa Networks," says Chris Harrington, vice president, strategy and
business development for Toshiba's American operations. Out of between
8,000 and 10,000 current U.S. hotspots a handful of locations
scattered around the country were Toshiba locations. They had no major
initiatives. They came late to the party. They secured no chains of
stores or major venues. They had, let's be honest, an almost (but not
quite) zero effect on the emerging hotspot industry except to show
that at the end of the day you can fire hotspots out of a gun and hope
they stick....
Cometa confirms closure
Cometa confirms closure
05/19/2004 07:24 PMBoingo CEO Critiques Cometa
Boingo CEO Critiques Cometa
05/18/2004 06:18 PMBoingo Wireless CEO issues statement critiquing Cometa Networks'
failures: In a rare case of this sort, Sky Dayton, Boingo's founder
and CEO, issued a brief statement reiterating the overall growth in
revenue and use of public Wi-Fi hotspots, and critiquing Cometa's
missteps. The statement notes, "Cometa had the potential to become a
leading wholesale hot spot provider. The company's business plan made
a lot of sense -- build lots of hot spots on the cheap and wholesale
them to brands who shoulder the costs of marketing, support and
billing. But they didn't execute well. They spent too much money
before they needed to and demanded carriers pay high minimums for
access to a network that wasn't yet built. No carrier wanted to go
along with that." Dayton also noted that despite Boingo's ability to
sign up networks worldwide as part of their roaming and aggregation
system, that Cometa wouldn't work with them. Cometa signed a roaming
deal with iPass, but reports indicate that this was more theory than
an implemented reality. Dayton wrote, "Boingo had attempted to strike
a roaming agreement with Cometa, but they claimed to not be
interested. Even though their network wasn't much more than a promise,
they were acting as if they were already the market leader. They
succeeded in alienating the very people they needed to help them
succeed." We've heard now from other sources that Dayton's experience
was consistent with Cometa's approach to other firms....
Cometa Pulls the Plug on Wi-Fi
Cometa Pulls the Plug on Wi-Fi
05/20/2004 07:07 PMThe hot spot wholesaler is shutting down less than a year and a half
after its launch.
Wi-Fi provider Cometa shutting down
Wi-Fi provider Cometa shutting down
05/21/2004 05:17 PMCometa Networks Inc., which had hoped to bring nationwide wireless
access in the U.S., plans to shut down because it hasn't been able to
attract enough capital to continue operations.
Cometa: Seattle is a Crucible of Its
Future
Cometa: Seattle is a Crucible of Its
Future
04/21/2004 06:22 PMCometa Networks is one of the most talked-about hotspot builders, and
the least well understood. Their CEO and their VP of sales and
business development talked about the present and future dispelling
some of the mystery: In an interview today with Cometa Networks' CEO
Gary Weis and vice president Jeff Damir, the two executives provided
context for their recent decisions, apparent setbacks, and their
future planning. Cometa Networks is a hotspot infrastructure builder,
signing contracts with venues to build Wi-Fi network locations that
they also provide technical and customer service for, and then resell
access to those locations to service providers such as aggregators
(like iPass, with which they have a relationship) and cell carriers
(such as AT&T Wireless). I've been one of the strongest critics of
Cometa's ongoing development in part because of the initial hype (not
all theirs) and the ongoing obscurity with which they have proceded. I
came away from this interview quite convinced that Cometa's plans are
much more in line with how the rest of the industry has matured and
the needs of both venue owners with whom they must negotiate and
service providers to which they have to sell their offering. If
anything, Cometa and Wayport have swapped places: Wayport is
aggressively building as many as 17,000 hotspots in the next three
years under contract, while Cometa's Weis and Damir said they are
looking for the right partners to more cautiously build out a network
in which every hotspot has the value that their upstream service
provider partners want. Weis joined the firm in March 2003, several
months after its public launch. Weis stated at the outset when asked
about the previous projections of Cometa's network growth, "I have
taken a lot of time to work with the team we built to get it right, if
you will, instead of shooting from the hip and talking off the cuff."
Even though Cometa started serving McDonald's locations around the
time Weis joined the company--as part of the publicity associated with
Intel's Centrino rollout--the main thrust of their current approach to
which venues to partner with began in June 2003 when the firm decided
to start a few months later in Seattle. Weis said that Seattle was
selected to "get us more information about what venues are really
valuable, not just to our perception but to our service providers'
perception." In September, they had 100 locations...
Cometa Networks to halt operations
Cometa Networks to halt operations
05/18/2004 04:12 PMThe Wi-Fi pioneer is set to announce Wednesday that it is suspending
its service, as the company has been unable to raise additional
capital to fund expansion nationwide.
Cometa Says Will Shut Down Wi-Fi
Business (Reuters)
Cometa Says Will Shut Down Wi-Fi
Business (Reuters)
05/19/2004 10:35 AMReuters - Cometa Networks, a joint venture set
up to wholesale high-speed wireless Internet access, said on
Wednesday it would close because of a lack of funding.
Briefly: Cometa confirms closure
Briefly: Cometa confirms closure
05/19/2004 08:39 PMCometa Networks suspending operations
Cometa Networks suspending operations
05/18/2004 06:19 PMZDNet May 18 2004 9:09PM GMT
Stardust caza las partículas del cometa
Wild 2
Stardust caza las partículas del cometa
Wild 2
01/03/2004 03:27 PMCometa takes Toshiba hot spots on board
Cometa takes Toshiba hot spots on board
04/20/2004 03:24 PMThe Wi-Fi hot-spot operator takes charge of Toshiba's SurfHere
network, extending its U.S. reach and cementing its position as a
wireless wholesaler.
Cometa Ends Its Short, Over Hyped, Life
Cometa Ends Its Short, Over Hyped, Life
05/18/2004 06:16 PMThe fine folks over at Wi-Fi Networking News have found out that
Cometa is shutting
down tomorrow. Cometa, of course, was the
massively
overhyped me-too play in the WiFi space that didn't make sense to a
lot of people
since the day
it was announced. When Cometa first launched we were incredibly
underwhelmed - noting that they had nothing special to distinguish
themselves from every failed offering, other than their three big name
backers (Intel, AT&T and IBM). However, in the early days the company
focused a lot more on talking about its pedigree than talking about
how they actually planned to come up with a business model that
worked. In many ways, the company
imitated
Metricom, the failed provider of Ricochet broadband wireless.
They picked a market with some hype, but could never figure out what
the real business model would be. When people started questioning
their announced plans to
install
15,000 WiFi hotspots by 2005, the company insisted they would make
it. Turns out, by 2005 Cometa won't have any hotspots. We have
nothing against companies trying to get more WiFi out there, but just
because you get money from Intel, AT&T and IBM, it doesn't mean the
rules of business don't apply to you.
Cometa crash bursts hotspot bubble?
Cometa crash bursts hotspot bubble?
05/21/2004 05:22 AMAnalysis Public WLANs 'overhyped'
WiFi provider Cometa is kaput, but the
sky is not falling
WiFi provider Cometa is kaput, but the
sky is not falling
05/19/2004 01:27 AMGlenn Fleishman says, "Cometa
shuts down. This doesn't show the model of for-fee Wi-Fi is broken,
but rather that a company with hype and high expectations can fail to
execute and then shut down."
LinkCometa WiFi Hotspot Network To Shut Down
Cometa WiFi Hotspot Network To Shut Down
05/19/2004 07:27 PMWi-Fi Provider Cometa Shutting Down -
Report (Reuters)
Wi-Fi Provider Cometa Shutting Down -
Report (Reuters)
05/18/2004 09:16 PMReuters - High-speed wireless Internet firm
Cometa Networks, unable to raise the cash to expand nationwide,
will soon begin shutting down, the Wi-Fi Networking News
industry Web site reported on Tuesday.
El cometa Machholz es visible desde
ambos hemisferios
El cometa Machholz es visible desde
ambos hemisferios
01/07/2005 12:04 AMCometa Games Launches Arcadia Mobile
Gambling Platform
Cometa Games Launches Arcadia Mobile
Gambling Platform
03/14/2005 05:55 PMFebruary 17th. Mobile gambling specialist Cometa Games today launched
it's Arcadia™ casino system, a comprehensive system for the provision
and management of gambling game on mobile phones. [PRWEB Feb 18, 2005]
Miyamoto: DS wireless Internet is go
Miyamoto: DS wireless Internet is go
07/14/2004 08:20 AMComputer Shopper Jul 14 2004 12:00PM GMT
Richmond, B.C. to get wireless Internet
Richmond, B.C. to get wireless Internet
03/06/2004 02:05 AMCanadaIT.com Mar 6 2004 1:38AM GMT
Internet service goes wireless
Internet service goes wireless
06/01/2004 02:02 PMCape Argus Jun 1 2004 5:32PM GMT
Wireless Internet is next for McCaw
Wireless Internet is next for McCaw
06/03/2004 03:16 PMIHT Jun 3 2004 6:06PM GMT
FCC: Allow Wireless Internet on Planes
FCC: Allow Wireless Internet on Planes
12/17/2004 06:30 PMThe FCC board overwhelmingly voted in favor of allowing high-speed
Internet on airline flights Wednesday. The vote opens the door for
wireless access on commercial flights by 2006. Part of the ruling also
opened for public comment a proposal to lift the in-flight cell phone
use ban.
Grok Description matches for Wireless Internet Co. Cometa Closes
GrokA matches for Wireless Internet Co. Cometa Closes
Wireless Internet Co. Cometa Closes
