MeterNet WB6400 Set-Top box to open low-cost market

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MeterNet WB6400 Set-Top box to open up the low-cost set-top market
MeterNet President Greg Wible interview

(12-11-98) Greg Wible is the President of MeterNet Corporation. MeterNet can be found on the web at http://www.meternet.com. MeterNet is manufacturing the new MeterNet WB6400 Set-Top box which was recently shown to interested parties at COMDEX. Information about the box can be found at http://www.meternet.com/ECR/netbox.htm. According to the website, the box has "webmail" for its email. "Webmail" is similar to the webpage-based email services such as HotMail. According to Wible, the box is being offered to national marketers, ISPs and MLMs for private branding. Wible provided a quick question-and-answer session regarding some of the technical specifics and marketing of the WB6400 set-top box.

RH: What type of browser does the WB6400 use?

GW: We have licensed the Netfront v2.0 Browser SDK from Access Japan to use in our embedded platform.

RH: The WB6400 looks like a simple box. For such a simple box that takes advantage of free "webmail" provided by your servers, the WB6400 seems to have a lot of potential. I was previously telling someone looking for a very, very inexpensive box that they consider looking at a browser-only box, forget POP email to save memory on the box, and use webpage-based email. Where are you selling the settops?

GW: We are selling our boxes both in North America and Japan. We have tailored the user interface, browser toolbar and setup screens to our specifications for each target market.

RH: The WB6400 seems to be a basic box without too much in the way of advanced capabilities that you may find in a WebTV Plus.

GW: By design, our WB6400 provides entry level, basic browsing on the TV along with webmail support. No bleeding edge technology here. Clearly trailing edge. If people want more capabilities, we suggest they buy a PC.

RH: That's what I tell people too. Set-top boxes are not computers and people should not expect them to do everything a computer does. Nonetheless, do you have any future plans for improvement of the box or its software?

GW: We will have Javascript support during the second quater of 1999. And SSL during the first quarter of 1999.

RH: How about DSL plans?

GW: Now, that would be telling. DSL is something everyone is looking at and we expect MeterNet to have some solutions available by the third quarter of 1999, depending of course on which DSL standard our partners request.

RH: Is it difficult for the TV viewer to setup the WB6400?

GW: The user sign-up process will be different depending on the objectives of our private-label partners. One simple feature we have available that is getting positive marks is our Autodial. When the user hits the power key on the wireless keyboard, the unit powers on and will automatically begin dialing to the preset dialup number and then automatically go to the home page's location. This is useful for first timers.

RH: The Autodial sounds like how the WebTV turns on and dials out automatically. Sounds like an easy-to-use and simple box. For such a simple box, I would guess that it does NOT have a retail price in the $200 to $300 range. So, what is the retail street price that the consumer may have to pay to get a WB6400?

GW: Well, some of our partners are actually talking about giving away the set-top box free along with free internet access in exchange for the user filling out a questionare once per month. Others will be subsidizing the box in exchange for the customer signing up with the ISP for a fixed amount of time ranging from a certain number of months or a year. Our thinking is that following the cell phone model seems to make much more sense.

RH: That's almost too good to be true. It almost sounds like "free email in a box." I was guessing this was going to happen one of these days. But what would be the price if a consumer had to buy the box?

GW: Depending on the offering, users can expect a street price initially somewhere in the $129 to $199 range including the wireless keyboard. We expect as our volume ramps up, our pricing will be dropping aggressively.

So, there you have it. The set-top market is going to be divided up like what you see between cellular phones and digital PCS phones. For cellular and PCS phones, the consumer issue is whether you want clearer sound with digital PCS or would you settle for some static you get with cellular. For set-top boxes, the consumer issue will be do you want high-speed access with a cable set-top box or are you willing to settle for 33.6-Kbps or 56-Kbps with a telephone-based set-top box. There's room for both. And then there is the additional consumer issue as to whether you want all the advanced features of a WebTV Plus or would you settle for a simple, no-frills box.

The WB6400 will not blow WebTV out of the water. You will still have the more advanced WebTV Plus boxes with the premium "enhanced television" capabilities as well as the "rich email" video pictures and sound recording capabilities that people will want. And then there will be the cable offerings that WebTV is getting into along with WorldGate, General Instrument, Scientific-Atlanta, and everyone else. However, there is the low-cost set-top market that is opening up. MeterNet could be taking the lead in this new low-cost set-top market.

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