So some broadband execs/reps have been talking a lot about making
internet application providers pay for access to their pipes. They
figure that Google, etc. are freeloading by not paying for the
internet access that their services require. Umm.. no. Everyone pays
for hosting and bandwidth. It's not free to get a couple of T3's or
OC-12's or whatever's into your server farm to offer a service. So,
the app service provider pays for THIS fee, and the customer pays to
be able to connect to the internet and use services from it. It's
that simple.
What's this really about? The cable guys are terrified that they're
not going to be the only game in town when it comes to delivering
IPTV and other video services. The day I saw FrontRow on my Mac play
back a trailer without a hitch from the Internet, straight to a big-
screen TV, I knew it was over. Last night I saw an XBox 360 download
a movie trailer from the net through a normal broadband connection...
It worked, even though the experience was horrifically bad (Microsoft
really needs to hire some UX people to fix that thing... i haven't
ever seen so confusing and unintuitive a consumer device before...
but that's for another post).
Anyone can come in and offer a competitive video solution, and the
broadband guys don't like it one bit. That's too bad. Maybe they
should focus on making the actual services good enough to be
competitive, and not start erecting artificial barriers to keep their
business alive.
