Editing Internet appliance

{{distinguish|information appliance|computer appliance}}
{{refimprove|date=September 2008}}
[[File:VTech Model 80-36447 Internet Appliance.jpg|thumb|A [[VTech]] Model 80-36447, a type of Internet Appliance. Note the button on the console that would link the user to the [[Yahoo!]] webportal.]]
An '''Internet appliance''' is a consumer device whose main function is easy access to [[Internet]] services such as [[World Wide Web|WWW]] or [[e-mail]].<ref>{{Cite book | author=Bergman, Eric | title=Information Appliances and Beyond (Interactive Technologies) | year=2000 | publisher=Morgan Kaufmann | isbn=1-55860-600-9 | pages=50–70 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wtPlin2FNXMC | access-date=2008-05-06  }}</ref> The term was popularized in the 1990s, when it somewhat overlapped in meaning with an [[information appliance]], [[desktop computer]], [[network computer]], or even [[thin client]],<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Keen, Peter G. W. |author2=Mougayar, Walid |author3=Torregrossa, Tracy | title=The business internet and intranets: a manager's guide to key terms and concepts | date=1998 | publisher=Harvard Business School Press | location=Boston, Mass  | isbn=0-87584-840-0 | pages=122 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BbWTzeLa4yoC }}</ref> but now it has fallen out of general use.

Internet appliances were contrasted with any general purpose [[computer]], but unlike personal computers, internet appliances were low cost and low margin products, usually using highly optimised low power silicon specifically built for internet use. Modern [[smart phone]]s and [[tablet computer]]s do approximately the same things, but are more powerful, more successful in the market, and generally not classified as Internet appliances.

== History ==
Internet appliances were promoted by a variety of technology companies during the 1990s but, as the price of full-featured computers dropped, never met the market expectations. [[Jim Louderback]] would later describe the concept as one of the "eight biggest tech flops ever".

An [[Internet tablet]] is a type of a mobile Internet appliance. Examples include the Sony Airboard<ref>[http://www.techworld.com.au/article/366537/sony_10_greatest_tech_flops/#closeme Martyn Williams 02 November, 2010] Sony's ten biggest flops, Techworld.com.au</ref> and the [[Nokia Internet Tablet]] series (including the [[Nokia N900]]).

Early in the 21st century a new breed of household devices, such as Vonage [[Internet Phone]]s, PenguinRadio's [[Internet radio]], and [[IPTV]] boxes, began to use the broadband connections in PC-independent ways.

==Notable devices ==

===Current===
* [[aigo MID]]
* [[Chromebook]]
* [[Litl Webbook]]
* [[MailBug]]
* [[Personal Internet Communicator]]

===Discontinued===
* [[3Com Audrey]]
* [[Amstrad E-mailer]]
* [[Cidco MailStation|CIDCo Mivo/MailStation]]
* [[IPAQ (desktop computer)|Compaq]]
* [[ePod]]
* [[GlobalPC]]
* [[i-Opener]]
* [[MSN Companion]]
* [[MSN TV]]
* [[New Internet Computer]]
* [[Nokia 770 Internet Tablet]]
* [[Nokia N800]]
* [[Nokia N810]]
* [[Nokia N900]]
* [[Pepper Pad]]
* [[Sony Airboard]]
* [[Sony eVilla]]
* [[Mylo (Sony)|Sony Mylo]]
* [[Virgin Webplayer]]
* [[VTech Companion]]

== See also ==

* [[Computer appliance]]
* [[Ubiquitous computing]]
* [[Intel Mobile Internet Device|Mobile Internet Device]] (MID)
* [[Server appliance]]
* [[Netbook]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Internet appliances}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070427205314/http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Session= Linux-Hacker.net] Community Page pertaining to getting Linux to run on older Internet Appliances

{{Computer sizes}}

[[Category:Classes of computers]]
[[Category:Information appliances]]