Thursday, July 19, 2007

Zonbu's subscription-based PC

engadget has 2 posts about Zonbu, a mini-PC based on Linux with no hard drive (1st and 2nd posts). The $99 system is sold with a 2 year subscription service (of $12.95/mo) that includes 25GB of storage on Amazon S3. Seems like a new way to get cheap service, but it still needs Internet Access apparently.

What's the selling point? It's green - low power usage: PCmag reports: "It used 8W in standby and 11W in use playing DVDs or making a Skype call, using our Kill-A-Watt power monitor."

If this thing had wi-fi enabled and a 10" LCD screen, it could be a great idea for Muni Wi-Fi networks.

1 comment:

JackBrandt said...

This is a pretty cool device. I have been looking at it and may even invest in one for playing around or to drop in my kitchen (not that I really need one there, there are three notebooks PCs in my household). For those that need or want something to surf the Internet, or a son or daughter going off to college and are cash strapped, it is perfect. All they have to do is plug it into their broadband connection and they are up and running... for $15.00 a month you have 50GB of space...

This is a great model for a Service Provider as well... The Hosting company, MSP, or ISP can provide space and email storage, additional data storage, etc., for the S.M.B. in that 50 or 100GB of space (per user), making it a stickier service and client. A variation of this could yield large profits for a service provider willing to make an investment in their SMB customers.