I agree. Muni-wi-fi has a limited future. Wi-fi will continue to be useful for short-range applications. However, it will be rapidly eclipsed by 4G Mobile Wimax for all mobile applications.
As my experience with 3G EV-DO has shown me already, once you've tasted broadband wireless, you'll never want to go back. My EV-DO handheld already gives me better Internet radio coverage in my car than any AM or FM station in Southern California. And that's without any special car antenna. By comparison, HD radio signal coverage is laughable.
This just in...
Intel Corp. moved one step closer to developing its own mobile WiMAX solution on Wednesday (12/6/06) when the company announced it had completed the design of its first WiMAX baseband chipset for use in laptops and other mobile devices. According to Intel's executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officers Sean Maloney, the new WiMAX Connection 2300 is a combination of the company's new chipset design and the previously announced single-chip, multi-band WiMAX/Wi-Fi radio.
Quotes:
"Our aim with WiMAX is to provide personal anytime/anywhere broadband connectivity."
"We're at a point where, in 2007 and 2008, you're going to start seeing product samples."
"We believe that WiMAX is going to be a cost-effective and appealing multi-megabit service for delivering mobile content."
More here:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2069792,00.asp
Final nails in HD Radio's coffin.