Another riff brought to you by last night's trip into Barnes & Noble. Not so much about books, though, because--for once--the in-your-face front display did not contain books. No, the pride of place normally given to J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer was instead devoted to the Nook eReader. No great shocker there, just elementary retailing in action. In fact, I think it was just last week I'd read that both Amazon and B&N are more aggressively marketing their gadgets.
But the poster-blurb about wi-fi & 3G did catch my attention, along with some mention--I thought--about web browsing. It turns out that the web browsing thing wasn't just the mudslide pie sugar-rush talking after all. Amazon's next-gen Kindle will (allegedly) also have built-in wi-fi--presumably in conjunction with, or in place of WhisperNet.
Together, they only make me (again) wonder how long it will be before accessing an unfettered internet will be a "given" in the same sense as electricity and hot & cold running water. Which is interesting timing, considering how AT&T and Verizon and Comcast and a number of their ilk are dusting off the notion of data-capping and/or actively fighting net neutrality.
In a sense, it's a race to see whether always-on and unmetered access will become either a quasi-right or a privilege in the American mindset. Granted, utilities are typically metered, but phone/data companies try to have it both ways by combining use-it-or-lose-it with overage charges. I mean, seriously, who talks exactly 500/1000/whatever minutes a month? Yeah, didn't think so--which makes it a lose-lose proposition all the way.
Personally, I'm betting on quasi-right. And the driving reason is the explosion in the number of gadgets that come with web browser as a standard feature. Gadgets that are live in a handful of seconds, rather than the time it takes a PC or laptop to go through the operating system equivalent of waking, showering, brushing teeth and reading the paper over coffee. In a phrase, instant gratification. Standing between the American consumer and instant gratification generally isn't smart business. And, having recently rolled my eyes half-dizzy shopping the talk/text/data Happy Meals the brand-name mobile giants offer, I can't say as I'll feel sorry for them when they lose the race.
