GNG News Guy
04-22-2008, 12:31 PM
http://i.dslr.net/urls/71/4471.gif (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-Devoloping-New-Web-Browser-93782)
From the "we're terrified of becoming a dumb pipe" and "that ad revenue sure looks tasty" departments comes news that AT&T is developing their own web browser, dubbed Pogo (http://www.pogobrowser.com/beta.php?destination=/). The new browser is Mozilla based and includes 3D visual technology developed by Vizible (http://www.vizible.com/), which AT&T has a stake in. The private beta just launched last week and a video demo is available here (http://www.pogobrowser.com/demo.html).
The browser's "3D" GUI is a bit of a system pig (for a browser), requiring a 1.6GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and a video card with at least 256MB of VRAM. Tabs are instead called "cells," and the browser requires XP or Vista. Judging from this Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/04/17/att-browser-pogo-tech-intel-cx_ew_0418att.html) report, the primary goal is to grab a bigger slice of the advertising pie, and to further burn the AT&T brand into your consciousness:"Interacting with a browser is the first thing people do when they get online," says David Krantz, AT&T's vice president for business development. "If we can give them something better, that will give us a deeper connection with our customers."
Of course if you give users a piece of bloated crap painted blue and tied to the AT&T brand, that idea may backfire. Early impressions aren't exactly stellar (http://arstechnica.com/reviews/apps/pogo-browser-beta-first-look.ars/1), though it is only in early beta.
Still the idea of an AT&T browser may leave some pining for a world where the money put into mediocre content portals (http://www.fancast.com/home) and browsers is instead put back into the network or customer support. How many FTTH installs or support training courses would the AT&T Blueroom (http://www.attblueroom.com/home/index.php) and Pogo budgets fund?
It's literally a pipe dream. For years, telecom industry executives have believed that the money being made by dedicated content operators belongs in their pockets (http://www.thegng.org/shownews/75793). It's fairly clear that in AT&T's dream world, AT&T offers the browser, the content, and the bandwidth -- getting ad revenue galore. Unfortunately, if the content and browser don't top the competition and flounder, they might regret not spending that money elsewhere.
From the "we're terrified of becoming a dumb pipe" and "that ad revenue sure looks tasty" departments comes news that AT&T is developing their own web browser, dubbed Pogo (http://www.pogobrowser.com/beta.php?destination=/). The new browser is Mozilla based and includes 3D visual technology developed by Vizible (http://www.vizible.com/), which AT&T has a stake in. The private beta just launched last week and a video demo is available here (http://www.pogobrowser.com/demo.html).
The browser's "3D" GUI is a bit of a system pig (for a browser), requiring a 1.6GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and a video card with at least 256MB of VRAM. Tabs are instead called "cells," and the browser requires XP or Vista. Judging from this Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/04/17/att-browser-pogo-tech-intel-cx_ew_0418att.html) report, the primary goal is to grab a bigger slice of the advertising pie, and to further burn the AT&T brand into your consciousness:"Interacting with a browser is the first thing people do when they get online," says David Krantz, AT&T's vice president for business development. "If we can give them something better, that will give us a deeper connection with our customers."
Of course if you give users a piece of bloated crap painted blue and tied to the AT&T brand, that idea may backfire. Early impressions aren't exactly stellar (http://arstechnica.com/reviews/apps/pogo-browser-beta-first-look.ars/1), though it is only in early beta.
Still the idea of an AT&T browser may leave some pining for a world where the money put into mediocre content portals (http://www.fancast.com/home) and browsers is instead put back into the network or customer support. How many FTTH installs or support training courses would the AT&T Blueroom (http://www.attblueroom.com/home/index.php) and Pogo budgets fund?
It's literally a pipe dream. For years, telecom industry executives have believed that the money being made by dedicated content operators belongs in their pockets (http://www.thegng.org/shownews/75793). It's fairly clear that in AT&T's dream world, AT&T offers the browser, the content, and the bandwidth -- getting ad revenue galore. Unfortunately, if the content and browser don't top the competition and flounder, they might regret not spending that money elsewhere.