New appliances will help boost "no-brainer" web traffic,
Intel just announced a similar device today
\http://www.qubit.net/
PCs make people crazy because they are open systems. Open architecture was essential when the first PCs showed up in 1978, but now that the industry knows what people really use home computers for, they "should design them accordingly," he said.
"You will buy this device by Christmas this year," he said.
Armitage took the Qubit on the road last year and has been talking to all manner of business partners, including online services such as America Online, high-speed cable folks such as At Home and Web portals such as Yahoo! who see its TV-like potential.
Tim Koogle, the portal's chairman and chief executive, "was jumping up and down," Armitage said. "He was yelling, 'I want people waking up to Yahoo! I want people waking up to Yahoo!' This device could represent an order of magnitude increase in traffic for them."
The revenue model looks more like cellular phone service than regular PC hardware. The user will buy the device, then pay $20 a month or thereabouts for service. No deals have been announced, but Armitage hints at announcements soon to license the technology to a consumer electronics company.
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