There were early adopters of WiFi, then there were late adopters of the technology, and then there are those who have yet to adopt it. Among those who took their time about the technology were financial institutions. The reason: Nagging doubts about the technology's safety. Things are changing, however, and in India, for example, more and more banks are using the technology to offer additional service to customers. In Mumbai, the country's financial center, they have begun to talk about "WiFi banking."

An example: Intel has teamed up with Yes Bank to equip the bank's branches with WLANs. Many customers now come to the bank with their laptops or PDAs and conduct their transactions without the assistance of a teller. Yes's managing director and CEO Rana Kapoor says: "Customers can now access their account details, conduct transfers and online payment on their own laptops in the comfortable and secure environment of the branch. A person could carry out loan or portfolio management services sitting beside our executive who could explain the numbers on the laptop screen to him."

For more on WiFi banking in India
- see this moneycontrol.com report