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Jean-Louis Gassée Column

Thoughts on Comdex 2000 November 15, 2000 I never imagined that Comdex would provide relief but, in this Year of The Chad, it does. The noisy trade show took my mind off such dark thoughts as a possible suit against the INS for unacceptably slow processing of the Gassée family's US citizenship application, for example... Just before Comdex, a Gentle Reader wrote strong words to the effect that he had had to pick himself up off the floor laughing after browsing our Web site and reading BeIA material. He said -- all caveats and apologies hereby tendered -- Who needs this? No one will buy a device just to browse the Net. Fair comment. We've seen how some pioneers have fared, from the iToaster to the i-Opener; one can understand the basis of our Gentle Reader's hilarity. The gentleman was charitable enough not to add Microsoft's weight to his argument -- the WebTV's slow and very expensive progress (hundreds of millions of dollars sunk, so far) could have made his point final, an argument as difficult to push around as a sumo wrestler. On the other hand, interest in "connected devices" (another name for Internet Appliances) keeps gaining weight. Consumer electronics giants and phone companies, from Panasonic to Nokia, are all showing various permutations of mobile and home devices rendering Internet content in some form. One can argue that we've seen loud proclamations before that lead nowhere in practice, such as Larry Ellison and Sun's NC. I have two comments on this point: 1) some Internet Appliances are indeed the implementation of Larry's NC; and 2) no one really argues that the Internet will be everywhere. The real argument is when and how. Today, the PC is the Net navigation and rendering device. This is changing -- which is not to say that PCs will disappear. We're moving from the PC as the universal device to a more rational segmentation into task-specific devices, just as we observe in every other walk of life, from transportation to entertainment. Bill Gates made similar points in his customary Comdex address, while demonstrating a Windows-powered tablet. He recognized long ago that we're moving from a PC-centric world view to an Internet-centric one. The DOJ might argue about Microsoft's way of converting to the new world view, but no one disputes the validity of Bill's "Pearl Harbor" speech five years ago. Speaking of The Chairman, we were flattered that he spent time in the Internet Appliances pavilion, looking closely at the various BeIA-powered devices we were showing. While this makes some of us a little nervous, we must also tip our hat to the person and company culture he created. How many CEOs, or Chairpersons, go around Comdex like Bill Gates and personally look at the competition and ask questions? We also had a suite at the Venetian Hotel adjoining the Sands Convention Center, close enough to the natural flow of traffic and quiet enough for discussions with our business partners. Of all the appliances we displayed, one had visitors making a bee-line straight across the room: a prototype tablet powered by a low-power processor -- that is all we can describe at this time. We can say that it provides a very attractive way of browsing the Net, rendering multimedia content, providing untethered information and entertainment. It shows the emotional -- and economic -- impact of wireless broadband at home. How and when the Internet will be everywhere remain important questions, but Comdex provides a better perception of the way technologies are converging to make Internet Appliances a convenient and fun reality.

Past Columns: March 7, 2001 Intemperance Makes the Suit Look Bad February 7, 2001 The Web Device of Choice at Home January 17, 2001 Transfer of Power December 6, 2000 One Step Closer November 15, 2000 Thoughts on Comdex 2000 November 1, 2000 Watching the Pendulum October 4, 2000 Plus çà change... September 6, 2000 Connected Appliances: A Field Report August 16, 2000 Sub-PC vs. Appliances July 12, 2000 The Victim Microsoft June 7, 2000 The Power of Words May 31, 2000 The First Be Shareholders Meeting May 24, 2000 Intellectual Property and Internet Appliances May 17, 2000 Spreading the Virus May 10, 2000 Numbers and Feedback May 3, 2000 Manufacturing Consent

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