IT-Analysis: The Internet Appliance goes from strength to strength

“With the PC still taking the form of some outdated, oversized
box of bricks, it’s hardly surprising that more and more people are
turning to newer, user friendly devices to meet their increasing
information requirements. Mobile phones of course are expected to
be one of the biggest sellers for Internet access once all of the
technologies are in place, as indeed is the PDA. But solutions like
set-top boxes and web phones look set to have quite a dramatic
impact on the Internet access world too.”

“The Cahners In-Stat group has just completed a study of the
Internet Appliance marketplace and has found that it is in for some
considerable growth over the next few years. Defining the
market as devices like TV based Internet access, web phones and
other terminals that use wires to connect to the web, the company
predicts that the number of shipments of such devices will grow by
a factor of more than 15 by the end of 2004. This will quite likely
change the face of the industry as Internet device shipments soars
to around 37 million units, up from 2 million shipments in
1999.”

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