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AOL Marriage to Netscape; AOL box in maybe FIVE YEARS? (11-25-98) (NYT) (may require subscription)
New York Times article indicates it could be FIVE YEARS before an AOL box is released: "[T]he real potential gold mine lies further down the road, perhaps five years away, when people will venture online for information or shopping not only from personal computers but from inexpensive Internet appliances costing $200 each...." - AOL-TV is coming: AOL-Sun-Netscape Deal paves way for AOL devices (11-24-98) (CNET)
CNET quotes AOL CEO Steve Case as stating, "A new generation of devices will emerge. Java will let people connect to their Internet service regardless of those underlying hardware and operating system details. That will help advance AOL's objective of making the Internet as popular as television and the telephone." CNET also quotes Envisioneering Group analyst Richard Doherty as stating, "The moment the consumer understands that he doesn't have a Microsoft OS in [the device], Microsoft's apparent control of the industry dramatically changes.... There are 15 million people out there who would buy an 'AOL Box.'" - AOL-TV is coming: AOL and Sun to make internet box (11-23-98) (WIRED)
WIRED quotes Forrester Research's Eric Brown as stating, "AOL is looking forward to the next revenue-model transactions. It's not so much about content; it's about commerce. [AOL] wants to become the Mall of America Online." WIRED cites industry sources as saying that AOL and Sun have been looking at convergence and television.
Compaq could be involved with the hardware to which WIRED quotes Brown as stating, "[M]anufacturing peripherals for TVs is the next great thing." The New York TImes News Service also reports that Sun has been working on a stripped-down, simple-to-use information appliance device (Diba?). Watch for AOL-TV. - Sega Dreamcast to be debut 11-27-98 in Japan; U.S. debut Fall 1999 (11-23-98) (MSNBC)
MSNBC article about Sega of Amercia chairman Bernie Stolar and how he is remaking Sega to go up against Sony and Nintendo. Sega's new Dreamcast is to debut in Japan on 11-27-98. Dreamcast is to make it's U.S. debut in Fall 1999 in time for the U.S. Fall 1999 television season (1999 is a major target year for interactive TV, set-tops, PC-TV, etc.). MSNBC cites Stolar as indicating that "Dreamcast is going to be big." While previously at Sony, Stolar engineered Sony's successful Sony PlayStation campaign that resulted in Sony having the number-one game machine with the sales of 12.5 million PlayStations. Stolar plans to do the same thing with the Sega Dreamcast. See also Sega's WebTV-capable Dreamcast machine is to run Windows CE (10-09-98) (CNET), Sega is looking for its WebTV-capable Dreamcast machine to bring in profits (11-19-98) (WIRED), and Here comes Sega's Dreamcast (11-24-98) (ZDNN/MSNBC). -
WINK to provide "one-click" e-commerce ordering via cable TV with CableData (11-23-98) (PRNewswire)
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Smart Card Industry Leaders tackle key issues at Global Summit (11-23-98) (PRNewswire)
Wondering about that smart card slot in the front of your WebTV or set-top box? The smart card is going to be a KEY to e-commerce and portable personal information via set-top boxes, computers, and other smart personal and interactive devices in the future....
The press release also provides links to:- Global Chipcard Alliance (GCA)
- Smart Card Forum (SCF)
- Smart Card Industry Association (SCIA)
- Advanced Card Technology Association of Canada (ACT Canada)
- Dutch National Chipcard Platform (DNCP)
- OpenCard Consortium (OCC)
- Sony's new "memory sticks" storage media could possibly be used in future set-top boxes and other devices (11-20-98) (CNET)
- New cable TV interactive set-top services predicted to have similar prices as premium cable services (Winter 98) (Smart TV)
In the new Winter 98 issue of SMART TV magazine, a "Cable's Second Wind" article states "Cable has never seen TV like this before...." with regard to the new digital cable TV interactive set-top boxes. SMART TV reports Scientific-Atlanta's spokesperson Caroline March-Long suggesting, "Costs for the new set-top services will vary from service to service, but will probably be similar to what people pay now for premium cable services...." SMART TV then cites the examples of @Home-type prices of $29.95 to $49.95 per month plus one-time installation fee running between $99 and $175. SMART TV quotes Envision Group's Paul Ashcraft as stating, "I think the digital set-top box will be a success. The Internet will push it over the top."
Does this mean doom and gloom for telephone-line based set-top boxes? I don't think so. If you look at the computer market, you will see an awful lot of dialup telephone-modems around although there are cable-modems available for computers. Pricing for the hardware and for the internet service play big parts in the eternal battle of telephone vs. cable. And if you continue to look at the computer market, there are many consumers and businesses who are satisfied with 56K modem speeds because of the hardware and service prices although the faster cable speeds are very tempting.... InfoBeat previously reported on 8-3-98 that SRI Consulting predicted telephone connections for Interactive TV will have 60% of the market by 2002 and then interactive cable TV will later dominate in 10 years. However, CNET also reported on 8-3-98 that BancAmerica Robertson Stephens communications & network analyst Paul Johnson predicted telephone DSL will win over cable because telephone copper networks are entrenched and business will want to leverage their existing investments in the copper wire. Yes, cable will be successful, but telephone and cable will continue to exist side by side sniping at each other.
Related: MCI-Worldcom DSL pricing for consumers would appear to be more or less similar (11-18-98) (CNET)
Also see: Industry extremely skeptical of startup SilkRoad Inc. claims of inexpensive, high-speed, big-bandwidth fiber-optic (11-9-98) (InternetWorld)
I would guess low-cost 56K-modem settop boxes, modems, and services will continue to be around for sometime....
Look for the Winter 1998 issue of SMART TV at your local news stand. - Concentric Network renews relationship with WebTV Networks (11-20-98) (PRNewswire)
- WebTV expecting more viewers for the holidays? (11-20-98) (InfoBeat Internet Daily)
InfoBeat reports WebTV Networks Inc. asked Concentric to provide increased network capacity for November and December 1998. Sounds like WebTV is expecting more viewers for the holidays. InfoBeat also reports WebTV contracted Concentric to provide IP services for another two years. Concentric has been the major network service provider for WebTV Networks since July 1996. -
Interactive Channel adds Cyber Radio to LocalSource and migrates Internet Radio to cable TV; Cable subscribers enjoy five music formats while surfing the Internet (11-19-98) (PRNewswire)
- Sega looking for WebTV-capable Dreamcast machine to bring in profits (11-19-98) (WIRED)
- TV News to be commonplace on the web; to be influenced by and to influence interactive TV (11-19-98) (Editor & Publisher)
- John Hopkins Children's Center needs secure, confidential, password-protected chat for WebTV-viewing children patients (11-18-98) (ruel)
- U.S. Senator Hatch hails judge's latest ruling against Microsoft to make Java compatible with Sun (11-18-98) (FOX)
Is there any hope for a collateral effect where WebTV begins to support Java? - WorldGate deploys Java and reaffirms cable headend solution (11-17-98) (PRNewswire)
- WorldGate does Java (11-16-98) (WGATE)
- The Online Challenge: "Can My 70-year-old Mother do it" (11-17-98) (National Post)
- CNET SPECIAL REPORTS ON CONVERGENCE: When Worlds Collide (11-17-98) (CNET)
Go to CNET's NEWS.COM to check out their special reports. (Be sure to visit the rest of CNET.COM and NEWS.COM.)- Cable Interactive Set-tops: the miracle boxes (11-17-98) (CNET)
CNET is providing great coverage of convergence with their article on cable interactive set-top boxes. The article hints at future devices such as from Compaq. This would be the computer manufacturers' sneak-attack with what I would call their "power PC-TV boxes" that they want to invade the living room, capture the sub-$1000 computer market, and get a share of the developing interactive TV market. And keep in mind that the telephone-line set-top boxes will CONTINUE to still be around..... - CNET article on potential FCC train wreck (11-17-98) (CNET)
- Tuning in: View to a kill (11-16-98) (CNET)
NBC Interactive executive Peg Murphy sees the future through a television picture tube.... CNET writes, "Many believe that much of this future will be determined by whoever controls the first screen that is seen when this uber-device is turned on, whether it is called a home page, portal site, electronic programming guide, operating system interface, or 'first boot.'" - They want their DTV (11-16-98) (CNET)
- Map of the Future (11-16-98) (CNET)
Very good interactive graphic showing what members of the interactive TV settop industry want and need .... - And more....
Congrats to CNET. CNET did a good job with this series of special reports. This series shows that CNET can THINK TV.
- Cable Interactive Set-tops: the miracle boxes (11-17-98) (CNET)
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WebTV Networks intros new features & holiday specials (11-17-98) (PRNewswire)
(alternate link)
- Veon interactive video startup attracts attention of venture capitalists (11-17-98) (Red Herring)
- Telecruz giving the Interactive TV a new lease on life (11-98) (Inside Line)
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SeaChange introduces ITV system for real-life Video-On-Demand for the home (11-16-98) (PRNewswire)
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Philips showcases leadership in global digital evolution at COMDEX '98 (11-16-98) (PRNewswire)
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