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Non-Tech : CAOL: The Chinese AOL and Internet Lottery
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To: money@work who wrote (497)6/30/1999 1:19:00 PM
From: herry iball  Read Replies (1) of 720
 
I have to disagree.

While I don't really understand what MSFT is trying to do in China, their attempts at penetrating the US market with WEBTV has basically failed, and we have an incredibly robust cable industry in every corner of the country, unlike China.

So far, the concept of set top boxes (STBs) being used for internet access has only occurred because MSFT has thrown a huge amount of money at the technology; and it has not helped as the subscription rates have been less than stellar (many in the industry have deemed it a failure)

Just look at the release of WEBTV into Echostar's lineup of STBs available to their customers. It has only happened because MSFT made the decision to completely finance this activity, Echostar is hardly putting up a dime. The simple fact is that the STBs which give you access to the internet are VERY expensive (unless MSFT decides to eat the price, as they've been doing in an attempt to gain market share).

With these STBs costing around $300, and PCs now being offered for slightly more than that, I don't see how they are going to penetrate China with internet access via television.

If anyone has additional insight into what might be happening along these lines in China, I'd love to hear it.
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