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- Another "Venus" news item: Microsoft goes after lucrative China Internet TV market; Gates announces deal to get Chinese online (3-11-99) (Greensboro News & Record)
The Greensboro News & Record (GNR) reports Microsoft's deals in China "underscore Microsoft's determination to crack one of the world's most restricted but potentially lucrative markets for Internet products and services." GNR also reports "Internet use in China has soared. Users topped 2.1 million in 1998, a fourfold growth in a year, and another 1.5 million accounts are expected open this year." - Microsoft to put millions on net TV in China (3-10-99) (Inside China Today/Agence France Presse)
ICT/AFP cites an unidentified Microsoft spokesman as indicating the "Venus" set-top box may be available by second quarter 1999 and may cost between 1,000 and 3,000 yuan (US$120 to US$360). ICT/AFP reports "[t]here are 2.1 million PC users in China but fewer than 2 percent of them regularly hook up to the internet. However, China has 320 million TV sets." Considerable future growth is expected for internet TV in China. - More Bill-Gates-in-China news (3-11-99) (PRNewswire)
- Microsoft unveils "Venus" project to put millions of Chinese TV viewers online (3-10-99) (CNNfn/Newsbytes)
- Microsoft tailors WinCE and WebTV for VCD set-tops for China (3-10-99) (WIRED/Reuters)
Wired/Reuters reports "Venus" product prices could be as low as 1,500 yuan (US$181). Wired/Reuters also reports state newspapers say China has 40 million VCD players and 320 million television sets (120 million more TVs than as reported by SCMP below) compared to about 11 million PCs and 2 million Internet users. - Bill Gates previews "Venus" interactive devices designed specifically for China (3-10-99) (PRNewswire)
In Shenzhen, China, Microsoft's Bill Gates previewed products building on top of the popular Chinese VCD product. Prototype products were also shown from Acer, BBK Electronics, ESS, Haier, Integrated Technology Express, Legend Group, Philips, and Stone JinBin. BBK president Duan YongPing said, "We believe this new category can be an opportunity as big as the VCD phenomenon." "Venus" devices borrow from Microsoft technologies including WinCE, Microsoft Internet Explorer, WebTV, Pocket Word and PocketExcel.
Elsewhere, the South China Morning Post reported that there are about 2.1 million Internet users but more than 200 million televisions in mainland China. SCMP reported that the "[t]he project aims to use televisions to expand the use of the Internet in the mainland." - ESS previews WinCE products for "Venus" (3-10-99) (PRNewswire)
- IGS Technology's CyberPro processors in Acer and ITE "Venus" devices (3-10-99) (Business Wire) (alternate link)
- Gates previews "Venus" TV set-tops for Chinese marketplace (3-10-99) (CNET)
- Matshushita Electric to produce HDTV sets with built-in digital-video recorders (3-9-99) (CNET)
Matshushita TVs are also sold under the Panasonic brandname. CNET notes the previous news of the Strategy Analytics forecast that only 6% of U.S. households will own integrated digital TV sets, like the Matshushita HDTV sets, in contrast to 63% (CNET says "over 60 percent") owning set-top boxes by Y2000. - Video-On-Demand: Islip Media provides searchable-video technology and video-library website for "V-Commerce" (3-9-99) (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
"V-Commerce" as in video commerce. Video-on-demand will be big. Check out Islip Media at http://www.islip.com. - Microsoft & Hongkong Telecom ZOOM pact; Gates to unveil net TV project for China (3-9-99) (CNET/Reuters)
This later version of the Reuters report states, "This week, Gates is ... expected to visit the south China city of Shenzhen to unveil a project for Internet-ready televisions and video compact disc (VCD) players. The 'Venus project' would be developed in cooperation with Chinese partners and run on the Windows CE operating system, in a move similar to the Hong Kong project aimed to take consumer electronics online." - Microsoft & Hongkong Telecom announce ZOOM high-speed internet service for PC and TV (3-9-99) (WIRED/Reuters)
- Bill Gates eyes China for net television in "Venus Project" (3-8-99) (ZDNN/Reuters)
An unidentified person said, "Personal computers are still beyond the means of many Chinese households, but almost everyone has a television or VCD [video compact disc] player," - Microsoft-WebTV "Venus Project" for China (3-9-99) (Anchordesk)
AnchorDesk's second item in top tech news reports that Microsoft and Hongkong Telecom to "make Hong Kong the de-facto convergence zone of TV and the computer." AnchorDesk also reports that Bill Gates will announce the "Venus Project" that is "aimed at getting hundreds of millions of Chinese TV viewers onto the Internet."
Jesse Berst's take on this is: "The problem with Microsoft's WebTV is that it locks viewers into Microsoft as an ISP." DOH! Jesse, you have to keep in mind that CONTENT IS KING. So don't be surprised if set-top boxes like the WebTV boxes and others are locked into a particular ISP. That's why many companies are coming out with their own boxes to put their own "hardwired portals" in the front of TV viewers. Jesse is just thinking like a computer techie person who configures all the settings on his computer. TV viewers for the most part will just want to turn on their TV sets. It is like having only a particular cable service. You really have to THINK TV for this type of market. -ruel - WebTV box to network the home (3-8-99) (Interactive Week) (alternate link)
Interactive Week (IW) reports WebTV with chip manufacturer Echelon and electric-switch maker Leviton Manufacturing plan to produce a system that will network any home device that plugs into an electrical outlet. IW quotes WebTV president Steve Perlman as stating, "Power lines, and eventually phone lines, have throughputs of 10 megabits per second. Using the existing connections and a WebTV box is cheaper than most of the other home networking solutions out there.... Subscribers will be able to email the WebTV box and tell it to record their favorite shows if they are running late at work. They'll also be able to email and tell the box to turn on their lights or turn off their sprinkler system." Interactive Week also quotes Envisioneering director Richard Doherty as stating, "This kind of home networking, where you've got control of anything around the house using a keyboard, is best suited to the non-PC crowd. It takes the WebTV and fits it into the home in a larger way." - Satellite: Fast access from the sky (3-8-99) (AnchorDesk)
Jesse Berst mentions, "This spring, EchoStar Communications will offer satellite Internet service that works directly through TV sets, rather than PCs. Customers will get access to TV and Net service through a single receiver, expected to cost about $500." Berst does not mention that EchoStar would be offering the service through new WebTV boxes and through Gateway's Destination XTV. DirecTV and Wink also recently entered into a similar relationship for providing enhanced television programming links. - Showtime & "Telewebbers": On the edge of convergence (3-8-99) (WIRED)
Wired reports that Showtime Networks in a January 1999 study found that "one in five households were simultaneously watching TV and working, shopping, or entertaining themselves online." Wired also reports that "this number has grown 80 percent since December 1997 to more than 18 million households.... [F]ive million households keep their personal computers and televisions in the same room." Wired quotes Showtime's executive vice president of corporate strategy & communications Mark Greenberg as stating, "The fact that one out of every five television households in America is watching television and engaging in online activity at the same time indicates that there is great potential to attract audiences to programming that combines both mediums." -
Digital TV set receivers could be an expensive mistake (3-8-99) (PRNewswire)
(alternate link)
Strategy Analytics says buy set-tops instead of full "integrated digital TV" (IDTV) sets. Strategy Analytics in their new report "Set-top boxes and dumb monitors -- The impact of IDTV on the TV receiver industry" finds that by 2005 only 6% of U.S. households will own IDTV sets compared to 63% with digital set-top boxes. TV sets are essentially "dumb monitors." Set-top boxes add some smarts to "dumb" TV sets. - Sony announces PCS-1500 videoconferencing set-top box (3-8-99) (Business Wire)
At MultiMediaCom in San Jose, Sony showed off it's new textbook-size PCS-1500 plug-n-play videoconferencing system with dockable pan/tilt/zoom camera. The report indicates that the vidcon set-top box will have a hefty price tag under $5000. - PARALLELS: TELEGRAPH TO TELEPHONE; INTERNET TO INTERACTIVE TV (3-6-99) (ruel)
- While you weren't looking, WebTV actually grew (3-5-99) (Industry Standard)
The Industry Standard reports that WebTV "now ranks among the 10 largest Internet service providers" with 700,000+ subscribers. Like the tortoise and the hare, set-top boxes may overtake the PC. Although Microsoft's naysayers may not like it, WebTV could very well lead the way....
(And if you are wondering about what the future holds for interactive TV, CLICK HERE for Ruel's interactive TV timeline including forecast statistical information.) -
Source Media and Insight Communications introduces Interactive Channel to cable subscribers in
Rockford, Illinois (3-5-99) (Business Wire)
Interactive Channel president Tom Oliver states, "Insight has taken a giant step forward by offering its customers a branded, easy to use, on-demand electronic program guide in the form of a TV portal just like the pop-up screen on a computer. We have installed the industry's first true two-way interactive operational digital cable system, on plan with the introduction of consumer-valued interactive services and content." - Shaw Communications selects General Instrument boxes for most of its Canadian cable customers in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia (3-4-99) (PRNewswire)
- Portable P-330 Digital Home Photo Printer works better with TV than with PC (3-4-99) (PC World)
- Future PlayStations with 300-MHz 128-bit Emotion Engine RISC processor could challenge PCs (3-4-99) (PC World)
- PC warned of attack from handheld devices and TV (3-3-99) (CNET)
CNET quotes IDC vice president of developing markets & technologies Sean Kaldor as indicating set-top box providers must focus on enhanced television viewing instead of full-fledged Web browsing. "On TV, watching television is the killer app." Kaldor noted electronic TV program guides that are popular among TV viewers in disputing consumer reluctance to using television interactively. CNET also cites Kaldor as indicating that television offers "instant gratification" for e-commerce on-demand music, video, and broadcast content products. In what may be a PC-centric nudge, CNET notes Kaldor conceded that TV is "not ideal for true Web surfing" -- but this would be when compared to "true" PC web surfing. Hmm, you have to keep mind that this perception may change as the Internet and webmasters adapt webpages for the TV interface (it doesn't look bad right now) as an e-commerce market oriented towards internet-on-TV develops and expands. Also see Jupiter reports below. - More-than-a-VCR boxes: Personalized TV no longer remote (3-3-99) (USA Today)
- @Home to provide $15-a-month internet TV service in second half 1999 (3-2-99) (CNET)
- @Home to test $10-a-month internet service (3-1-99) (MSNBC)
- Compu-DAWN to private-brand Boca set-tops as e.TV boxes for MLM distribution (3-3-99) (Business Wire) (alternate link)
- Pace selling 100,000 set-tops to Telewest for UK market (3-2-99) (PRNewswire) (alternate link)
- MeterNet launches private brand WebMail for MeterNet set-top boxes (3-2-99) (Business Wire) (alternate link)
MeterNet's WebMail is based on the YawMail engine. A demo of the email is located at http://stbmail.com and at http://194.219.147.27. Also see previous MeterNet president interview. - Bitstream partners with Spyglass to provide TrueDoc scalable fonts for interactive TV (3-2-99) (PRNewswire)
(Business Wire link)
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