Fast Forward: The Next Next Thing

Posted 09/29/2009 at 1:15pm | by Tom Halfhill

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It’s getting almost impossible to be a fully equipped techie. There’s always another new gadget threatening to leave you behind, even if you’ve already got a desktop PC, laptop, netbook, home WLAN, game console, e-book reader, smart phone, iPod, GPS, portable DVD, digicam, DSLR, HDTV, HD camcorder, Blu-ray, DVR, dish, and surround-sound home theater.

What’s next? Media phones.

Nope, they’re not smart phones. We’ve already got that. Media phones are next-gen landline phones tethered to broadband Internet service in a home or office. Typically, they have cordless handsets for voice calls and a fairly large (8-inch or so) touch screen. Built-in DSL or Wi-Fi provides fast, always-on Internet access. VoIP can provide cheap long-distance calling. Like conventional phones, media phones needn’t be booted or shut down.

The touch screen offers numerous applications: web browsing, email, network-based address books, phone-directory lookups, news updates, weather forecasts, YouTube videos, music, TV program guides, Twitter, recipes, and quick e-commerce (e.g., ordering pizza or movie tickets). When idle, a media phone can be a digital picture frame, MP3 player, or Internet radio.

Basically, media phones update the old-fashioned home or office landline phone with the same services and applications now appearing on mobile phones, except with bigger screens and no need to recharge batteries. Media phones can be mounted on walls (ideal for kitchens and workshops) or put anywhere conventional phones are found (desks, tables, night stands). Some plug into an ordinary phone jack, others connect wirelessly to a dedicated Wi-Fi router. They don’t need a PC.

Telephone companies are introducing media phones in the same way that DSL modems were rolled out. Your local telco will probably subsidize the phone’s cost in return for a service contract. You may also find media phones sold in stores, probably bundled with service. In offices, they will tie into Internet-based PBX systems.

An ulterior motive is at work here. More people are dropping landline telephones in favor of cell phones and cable services. The telcos hope media phones will reverse this trend. Nevertheless, I can see the usefulness of a media phone. At the right price, this techie would buy one.

Tom Halfhill was formerly a senior editor for Byte magazine and is now an analyst for Microprocessor Report.