Wireless Hotspot users to grow to 9.3 million in 2003 Research firm Gartner projects the number of public WLAN hot spots to grow to 71,000 in 2003 from about 1,200 in 2001, but says even that number is not sufficient to meet user needs, according to a report released this week. Retail outlets including coffee shops, gas stations and restaurants made up the majority of hot-spot locations in 2002. Gartner predicts these outlets will continue to lead the industry through 2005, when the projected number of worldwide hot spots reaches 151,768. The hot-spot market offers new challenges, particularly to network service providers, according to Gartner, because these providers do not control the WLAN airwaves or locations, and because the equipment is relatively simple and inexpensive to install. Network service providers that want to compete in this market must have an attractive business proposition for location owners, or partnerships with other hot-spot service providers. Gartner projects the worldwide number of hot spot users to grow this year to 9.3 million users, up from 2.5 million users in 2002. Of that 2003 total, according to Gartner, North America would account for 4.7 million users, followed by Asia/Pacific with 2.7 million and Europe with 1.7 million.