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continued from "WebTV takes flight"
WebTV everywhere?
<Picture: W>ebTV is back, and in less than a month Microsoft and its subsidiary, WebTV Networks, are expected to roll out a revolutionary WebTV box, say sources. The rollout in June will put the software giant back on top of the technology totem pole. The soon-to-be-released WebTV box includes many of the old features like a dialup modem, E-mail, and web browser. However, the new platform also has added features, which are quite similar to the Digital VCRs designed by Tivo Interactive and Replay Networks.
The boxes from Tivo and Replay, also known as the personal video recorders (PVRs), allow viewers to pause, rewind, fast-forward and even download their favorite programs onto a hard drive and do it all while the show is being broadcast. The new WebTV box, which will run on a Quantum Effect Designs MIPS processor and use Windows CE as an operating system, will also have an 8.6 gigabyte hard disk drive that accepts and stores data or TV programming downloaded to the box. It is expected to be sold under the brand name DishPlayer. Echostar satellite network will be the first company to officially push the device.
DishPlayer, which is expected to cost about $500, will be made by electronics companies such as RCA and sold at stores like RadioShack, a division of Tandy Corp. (nyse: TAN). This is a price that makes some analysts skeptical. "Who would buy this device at that price point?" questions Michael Harris, principal analyst at Kinetic Strategies, a Phoenix, Ariz.-based research firm. He points out that these days a decent personal computer can be had for under $500. Harris, who is tracking the broadband revolution, adds, "If this is going to be a dialup device, then why buy it? [Customers] need to have a broadband capability."
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The new WebTV box is the cornerstone of Microsoft's broadband strategy.
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Microsoft, it seems, has already thought about that.
In the next generation WebTV device, the hard-drive size is expected to be boosted to nearly 18 gigabytes--which can store more than 90 minutes of TV programming--and will also have high-speed Internet connectivity. While the soon-to-be-launched WebTV box will work with satellite connections, future products will also include a digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable modem connections.
Among the features to be included in the new box are TV Pause--which lets users put a TV program on hold and watch it up to 30 minutes later--online videogames such as Doom and You Don't Know Jack, seven day onscreen interactive television listings with keyword search as well as Web PIP, a new gimmick that lets users watch TV and surf the Net at the same time.
The new WebTV box is the cornerstone of Microsoft's broadband strategy. The Redmond, Wash.-based company, which has some $14 billion in cash, has been spending liberally to position itself in the leadership position in the oncoming digital revolution. Microsoft has spent more than $2 billion to buy stakes in satellite and cable companies such as DirecTV, and NTL Inc. in England. The company has also invested heavily in companies such as DSL provider Northbridge. And most recently, Microsoft spent $5 billion to buy a piece of AT&T (nyse: T) in exchange for a promise that the telephony giant will use some variant of Microsoft's Windows CE and WebTV technologies in its next generation of set-top boxes.
With better technology and a little more maturity, WebTV may just end up flying far after all.
It's too bad Icarus didn't have Bill Gates backing him.
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