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AnInternet appliance is a consumer device whose main function is easy access toInternet services such asWWW ore-mail.[1] The term was popularized in the 1990s, when it somewhat overlapped in meaning with aninformation appliance,desktop computer,network computer, or eventhin client,[2] but now it has fallen out of general use.
Internet appliances were contrasted with any general purposecomputer, but unlike personal computers, internet appliances were low cost and low margin products, usually using highly optimised low power silicon specifically built for internet use. Modernsmart phones andtablet computers do approximately the same things, but are more powerful, more successful in the market, and generally not classified as Internet appliances.
Internet appliances were promoted by a variety of technology companies during the 1990s but, as the price of full-featured computers dropped, never met the market expectations.Jim Louderback would later describe the concept as one of the "eight biggest tech flops ever".
AnInternet tablet is a type of a mobile Internet appliance. Examples include the Sony Airboard[3] and theNokia Internet Tablet series (including theNokia N900).
Early in the 21st century a new breed of household devices, such as VonageInternet Phones, PenguinRadio'sInternet radio, andIPTV boxes, began to use the broadband connections in PC-independent ways.
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