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Happy Endings Todd Stauffer
(tstauffer@webintosh.com)
It's the Bandwidth, Stupid
Sure, the iMac is easy on the eyes, will include a cool software bundle and features the first play at USB, making this the easiest computer in the world for a newbie to upgrade. Within a few years, everybody will be wondering what the fuss was all about, with just a few wizened old geeks (both SCSI gurus and PC wonks) hanging out on the porch swing swapping old tales of the cabling. Kids will roll their eyes.
But right now we've got controversy brewing, even if we lay our wonder about the Case of the Missing Floppy to the side for a moment. What's on everybody's tongue seems to be the modem, and how it's not the right speed. On top of that, I've seen people clambering for a Great Swap -- switch out the Ethernet port for something cool, like serial ports or a toaster oven option. Wrong-o!
Connectivity
I've been watching the issue of bandwidth for a number of years now, writing mostly about the Internet, ISDN, telecommuting, Web development and similar topics when I'm not writing about the Mac. I've got a good sense of the speed of things -- how often new modems come out, how excited phone companies get about new technology, how limited our bandwidth choices really are.
This spring is the first time anything has really changed about consumer bandwidth in about ten years. I can't emphasize enough that higher-speeds for homes and small offices are coming right now. It's happening, right now. In my current prison of Colorado Springs, CO., a town not exactly know for beating the status quo to the latest funtime gimmicks, ADSL is happening. High-speed is happening. And all throughout the US West service area, as far as I can tell, this transition is completely Mac-compatible. Many other phone companies are also offering an Ethernet-based Mac-friendly solution.
You will see ADSL or cable connections to the Internet as more viable than modems -- in all but the least urban areas -- within 18 months. And what makes the inclusion of Ethernet so brilliant on the iMac is that no other cheap-PC manufacturers have had the wherewithal to add it -- or make it as simple to use as it is on a Mac. This fall, iMac buyers will be getting more than they bargained for, since they'll be more ready for the Internet than any other their penny-pinching brethren. Then they'll smile.
Long live the Modem
The modem is dead, although not as dead as the floppy. The iMac won't need more than a 33.6 modem, and not just because the US doesn't get great 56K connections most of the time. The iMac doesn't need a faster modem because, in many cases, the modem won't be used for a Internet connection. Instead, it'll be used for telephony.
That's what's really cool about the second half of 1998 -- it's the first time telephony will ever make sense in the consumer PC world. And that sense of sensibility will be unveiled by Apple and the iMac, with far-reaching consequences that will probably, eventually, be credited to Bill Gates.
Here's the deal: With ADSL and many cable modems, you only need one phone line. You won't need a second data line, because ADSL connections don't interfere with your voice communications -- your phone still rings. With cable modems, you don't even use the data line for your Internet access, and it seems that most cable companies are working to give you decent upstream connections through the cable as well.
So you save $20 a month on the phone line. How could that change the world?
Telephony
Because you don't need an extra phone line for the modem, you can hook your modem up to your regular phone line and use it for telephony. Remember all those paging, voicemail, faxing, remote control, ordertaking modem features they've been including on modems for the past five years that didn't make any damn sense because your modem was hooked up to a second line? No more, my friends. Now, thanks to the iMac, it finally makes sense to have a modem -- if that's what you want to call it -- that manages your telephone.
In fact, the geoport's Apple Telecom Software has, for years, offered an amazingly happy interface to some great telephony features that I've never taken advantage of because -- back when the geoport didn't suck so much -- I didn't have it hooked up to my voice line. I think it's telling that the rumors have it that iMac's modem is a software modem similar to geoport technology. Maybe they'll dust off that Telecom software and change the world.
Marketing
Of course, the iMac may die a horrible fate because the world isn't ready to accept the new thing -- just as people might opt for the wrong computer just because the "expensive" iMac doesn't have a $30 floppy disk drive mechanism for backward compatibility. If consumers don't understand why Apple did something, they might just think it was the wrong decision. For such marketing reasons, Apple will probably ship the iMac with a 56K modem (or upgrade promise).
But if you wanted confirmation that Apple is on the bleeding edge of this trend, welcome to it. Hopefully at least 10 percent of the folks out there will see this trend and buy an iMac -- then they'll look back with glee when they see their $899 Packard Bell friends shelling out $100 for the Ethernet adapter and another $150 for a voice-capable modem for their Celeron-based PC. This is common ground for Mac owners -- knowing we have the better technology, but not being able to convince everyone. Which is okay. We don't need everyone.
But rest assured that the iMac does feature the right trade-offs. It will be clear within the next year or so that Ethernet is completely the right decision and there's no point in going back. That's the future of Internet connectivity. The iMac's bundled telephony interface is just icing on the cake.
Now, let's just hope Apple can bundle that Imation LS120 floppy drive cheaply through the Apple Store...
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