Net appliances could make Jetson-like home a reality
By Therese Poletti
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 28 (Reuters) - One day in the
not-too-distant future, you will be able to check the contents
of your refrigerator and pantry via the Internet from your
office, then pick up exactly what you need on the way home.
Or instead of stopping at the store, you could order from
one of the Internet grocery stores like Webvan Group Inc.
<WBVN.O> or Peapod Inc. <PPOD.O>, and have the food waiting at
the door by the time you get home. At home, you could look up
recipes online, using a kitchen Web "appliance."
This may sound like the home of the Jetsons, the futuristic
TV cartoon family, but it's not science fiction anymore. A slew
of companies, from startups to older firms reinventing
themselves, are developing a wide range of appliances that hope
to bring the Internet to every room in the home.
"Five years ago, I did a speech about this and people were
on the floor, laughing at me," said Tim Bajarin, president of
Creative Strategies, a consulting firm in Campbell, Calif.
Now there's an e-mail-ready refrigerator. In June, ICL, a
unit of Fujitsu Ltd. <6702.T> and Sweden's AB Electrolux
<ELUXb.ST>, demonstrated a prototype digital refrigerator with
a flat-panel screen, a bar code scanner for tracking grocery
items and the capability to send and receive e-mail.
With devices like this and others in the works, the totally
wired home is "not that far-fetched," Bajarin said.
APPLIANCES ARE NOT PCS
The appliances now available or in development may range in
size, shape, software and hardware, but all have one thing in
common -- they are not personal computers and they offer quick,
easy, low-cost Internet access.
"I've been talking about these things for about two years,
and no one believed me," said Kevin Hause, an analyst at
International Data Corp., a market research firm.
"We are pretty optimistic about the category, and the
endorsement by Microsoft Corp. <MSFT.O> and the commitments by
Compaq <CPQ.N>, Acer <2306.TW> and Vestel <VESTL.IS> will
really drive interest in this space," he said.
Last week, at the giant Comdex computer show in Las Vegas,
software behemoth Microsoft Corp. gave its endorsement of a
low-cost terminal just for accessing the Internet as a way to
entice more users to its MSN network of Internet services.
Microsoft announced plans for a low-cost Web Companion to
be made by Compaq Computer Corp., Acer Inc., Philips
Electronics Inc. <PHG.AS>, Vestel USA, a unit of the Turkish
consumer electronics company, and Thomson Multimedia <TMM.PA>,
for Web use via its MSN Internet access service.
Pricing, which is expected to be low or perhaps free with a
commitment to subscribe to MSN, will be announced when the
products are available in the second half of 2000.
This would follow the model of the cellular phone industry,
by offering access devices for free or at very low cost in
order to gain new subscribers. Many companies developing these
low-cost Internet devices are using this approach.
INTERNET APPLIANCE MARKET SET TO BOOM
According to IDC, the worldwide Internet appliance market
will reach 93.7 million units, or $18.8 billion in sales, by
2003, up from an expected 13.8 million units, or about $4.6
billion, in 1999. This includes appliances, handheld devices
such as 3Com Corp.'s <COMS.O> Palm VII with wireless Internet
access; Sega Enterprises Ltd.'s <7964.T> Dreamcast gaming
console with Internet access; Web-enabled TVs and Web cell
phones.
Of the many companies active in the area, one older firm is
semiconductor industry stalwart National Semiconductor Corp.
<NSM.N>. Santa Clara, Calif.-based National Semi is making the
appliance market a big focus, with its Geode chip and its
WebPAD reference design, so firms can create their own devices.
One of the best-funded startup companies also was founded
by a former National Semi executive.
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