Metricom, better known as the provider of the Ricochet wireless service, is still hanging in there. They are making a last ditch marketing effort to attract customers. An analyst who doesn’t mince words says that their 40,900 member subscriber base is “effectively zero customers.” Ouch. Their original plan was to save marketing dollars for building out their infrastructure. But they probably should’ve seen if they could get one area serviced well before building access in more cities. It’s a tough logistic though; business travelers need more service areas. But with more cafes and public areas providing wireless ‘net access, like Starbucks’ deal with Compaq, is a Metricom network necessary? In my view of the future, you can pretty much go anywhere (a friend’s house, cafe, restaurant, mall, work, library, park, train, airport, etc) with your wireless enabled device and get online without needing an account, or to pay for anything (‘cept maybe a frappuchino).