September 22, 1997 New Thinking:
True costs of Internet access

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• An education (ability to read, etc.)
• An ability to type
• A house
• Electricity
• A national telephone system that works
• A telephone line
• A reasonable income
• An ability to understand how computers work
• A computer
• A modem
• An account with an ISP
• A room to put the computer and modem in
• Someone to send that email to

Most of the things in the above list, you and me take for granted. However, there are very many people in the world who don’t take the above things for granted. Even for the average citizen, who is reasonably well off, getting to understand how a computer works can be very off-putting.

Most of the people on this list use computers in all sorts of different way. They’re part of our jobs, part of our life. $2,000 for a new computer is not that much because we have so many things to do with it.

For example, the tools I have used on my computer include:

• Word processor tools
• Spreadsheet tools
• Presentation tools
• Flow chart tools
• Email tools
• Web tools
• HTML generating tools
• Graphic tools
• Time management tools
• Networking tools

If I were to divide these 10 tools into the $2,000 cost for my computer, then it would work out at $200 per tool. Thus, sending my first email costs me $200 (plus modem, etc.), rather than the $2,000 it would cost a mother who was just buying the computer to send email to her son in Chicago.

There is also the fact that the more emails I send over the life of my computer, the better value I get. There are many other facts and factors, but one thing is clear: Email and the Internet is not a cheap communication option for a large number of people.

I’m not talking about social or moral issues here. I am talking about hard, business issues. As computer users, the Internet is an extension of what we do. It seems like unbelievable value for us. We don’t care that it’s not that organized right now; we can find our way around.

For the non-computer user, the Internet is a whole different thing. For them, the Internet may not look like such good value for money. How do we convince them? Put it this way: If you didn’t have a computer and the only reason you would buy one, would be to go online, would you?

I think the Network Computer (NC) is a great idea. I wrote about this concept several years ago, calling it an ‘Email Machine:’ simple, basic, cheap. Not everyone wants to do spreadsheets or graphics or presentations or HTML. I’m sure there’s a market segment whose budget would only allow them to purchase a very cheap machine that has limited browsing capacity but can send and receive email.

We need to think about the consumer, every shade of consumer, if we are really going to expand the Internet population. The NC and set-top boxes are that sort of thinking.


Gerry McGovern


 

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