Subject: Web-TV featured in Hartford Courant Technology section; 30,000 units sold in Dec., over 300,000 projected for this year.
Each Thursdays' Living section of the Hartford Courant focuses on technology. Today's feature story is about Web-TV. IDC/LINK market research firm in New York City estimated that 30,000 units were sold during the Christmas season and that could grow to 300K over the next year. "WebTV has come into the market and taken a jump on the rest of the market by providing a complete solution" said IDC/LINK senior analyst Jill Frankle. "that was a pretty positive start, considering that they need to educate the market. And that's not just the end consumer, but also the retailer."
Related to FTEL, the article goes on in the next paragraph to state: "But WebTV's vision goes beyond the set-top box. Indeed, the company's motto might well be: We're not just a box, we're a network. That's because in addition to selling a device for connecting your television to the Internet, WebTV also is selling the connection.
"Like many other Internet services, WebTV charges $19.95 a month for an Internet connection over conventional telephone line. And ultimately, that could be its real gold mine. People might spend $300 for an Internet device once, but they pay for their Internet connection each month."
The article also states that Boca Research and Zenith have plans to enter this market. Wonder who they'll purchase their connectivity from?
Also interesting was the statement that "Currently, WebTV is adding new capabilities to its system. The company recently added RealAudio sound capabilities and are working on handling Java-based software. The company is also touting its new VideoFlash technology that allows television programming and other video data to be viewed over the Internet at quality comparable to standard television signals.
The combination of low price and ease of use could make WebTV and similar products a handy alternative for those who don't own a PC, who don't want one, or can't afford one."
The article is very long and gets into other areas such as what analysts think is the future for this market and the plans for NetPC by Intel/Microsoft.
Two things get my attention. The VideoFlash and RealAudio would certainly benefit from FTEL's state-of-the art equipment. I also see an analogy between computers/WebTV : computers/Nintendo. While people could enjoy video games on computers, many families didn't/don't want to go to the expense of a computer, so they opt for the less expensive Nintendo, SEGA, Atari, etc. WebTV could be the Internet's Nintendo system. |
