With their first installation at the Norfolk International Airport in Virginia and a contract with Host Marriott Services, CyberFlyer plans to install 30 units in restaurants and airports beginning this summer, doubling the installations by year end. U S West's Advanced Technology Group in Boulder is currently under way with trials of their Cyberbooth in Denver and Seattle. Companies such as U S West and CyberFlyer are soliciting advertisers to subsidize kiosk costs by putting banner or click-through ads on the display. Thus far, only a few have signed up, but kiosk developers are hopeful that once people use the applications in big numbers, advertisers will jump at the chance for visibility. We'll do well when people are accustomed to paying for the value of public access.
Any transportation hub is good, where people have a lot of wait time.
The verdict is still out as to whether people will use the stations in movie theater lobbies or truck stops, for example. But the main item people pay for is e-mail. Dennis says that each of the U S West trial screens average about 100 log-ons per day. It's a good compromise price. Although Internet-ready kiosks are generally getting high marks from analysts, not all agree that they'll be a big hit.