The Unwired Day scheme, part of its USD 300m Wi-Fi marketing campaign, is designed to showcase the possibilities for using Wi-Fi technology in business and leisure.

Locations supporting the event will display a sign highlighting the free availability of Wi-Fi access and Intel is running a website providing details of participating hotspot operators.

Locations comprise a series of festivals in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle. The events will feature concerts, prize giveaways and demonstrations.

Intel’s Centrino technology, launched in March 2003, has rapidly gained acceptance in the market by combining power saving mobile processing technology with Wi-Fi wireless networking. According to the company it now features in over 90 products, with a further 40 expected by the end of 2003.

In a separate announcement, Microsoft [MSFT] said it was partnering with Tully’s Coffee Corp, a Seattle-based coffee shop owner, to showcase Wi-Fi on Pocket PC devices.

The two companies will install demonstration kiosks in Tully’s coffee shops, which use the Cometa hotspot network, during November.