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Follow UsReshma Kapadia
NEW YORK: America Online Inc. and Gateway Inc. plan to unveil on Friday a Web
appliance with a new version of AOL's Internet service that lets users access
the Internet from anywhere in their homes, sources close to the companies said.
The device is the first byproduct of the pact struck by Internet giant AOL in
April with Gateway, the No. 2 direct reseller of personal computers.
The world's largest Internet service provider's new "Instant AOL"
service is designed to let users access e-mail, instant messaging or content
from a touchscreen Web appliance located anywhere in the house.
Users will also be able to access the AOL address book and a notepad where
family members can leave notes for each other.
Instant AOL is part of the "AOL Anywhere" strategy that aims to
expand the reach of the company and offer its services regardless of users'
location or what device they are using.
Forrester Research expects that by 2003, about 45 per cent of US online users
will have more than one device to connect to the Web.
Web appliances are easy-to-use compact devices designed to provide quick
access to Internet content such as recipes and coupons or to e-mail from any
room in a house.
Several companies, including AOL rival Microsoft Corp., are working on the
devices as a way to reach people who are uncomfortable using a personal computer
or who want a second way to access the Internet.
Microsoft and Compaq Computer Corp. jointly unveiled a Web appliance in
August that featured the MSN Internet service.
AOL is still awaiting US regulatory clearance for its $127 billion purchase
of media giant Time Warner Inc., a deal that will make it the world's largest
Internet media company. The combined base of AOL subscribers and Time Warner's
cable and magazine subscribers will be more than 110 million.
Users can operate the Gateway device with a stylus, by pressing a touch
screen or with a wireless keyboard that offers short-cut keys to features such
as AOL e-mail and instant messaging.
The devices break away from the so-called "Wintel duopoly" of Intel
Corp.'s hardware and Microsoft Windows software.
The appliances use Transmeta Corp.'s Crusoe processor, which is designed to
operate at lower power levels to conserve battery life.
The devices also use Netscape's browsing engine instead of Microsoft's
Internet Explorer, and they operate on the mobile open-source Linux operating
system, an alternative to Microsoft's Windows.
Gateway said on Thursday that it struck a strategic supply pact to include
Broadcom Corp.'s modems as standard equipment to let customers connect the
appliances through existing phone lines at high speeds.
The devices can access the Internet through a home network, traditional
dial-up service or high-speed data connections.
(C) Reuters Limited 2000.