***Intel Launches Line of Brand-Name Products with Internet
Appliance
(January 11)
According to Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, Intel is making
a brand-name product for its entry into the Internet appliance
market.
Numbers showing that three out of four American homes, and even
more in the rest of the world, are not yet on the Internet drives
this market.
Intel unveiled a strategy to work with Internet providers and
telecommunications companies to bring more of the world online.
The appliances and other pieces of that strategy were developed
in large part by the Chandler-based appliance division of the
company's Home Products Group.
Intel and an undisclosed customer are refining prototypes of the
new appliances. No photographs or conceptual drawings have been
released.
Intel will sell the devices for between $300 and $500 to Internet
providers, who will then sell them to consumers. The actual cost
to consumers could be little or nothing, because the appliances
will be bundled with long-term contracts for Internet access.
Wave Issue 2002 1/14/00 Article 7-02