I really like the idea of this Zonbu machine even if the revenue model seems to be based on reselling Amazon’s S3, which I still don’t trust as a platform as my main data backup, never mind my primary data space.

This is a fanless (i.e. noiseless) 1.2 MHz system that uses Linux and stores all your files on S3 so you can get them from anywhere where you’re online. It uses very little power and is designed with ease-of-use in mind. Whether it really is “as easy to use as a Mac”, time will tell, but it’s definitely an interesting piece of hardware.

This kind of box is going to be all over the place in a very short space of time. I was talking to somebody at Sun the other day who suggested they’d love to find a way of getting something like this out in a form-factor that made sense within the home, and with the innards of a Sun Ray and the right platform, it could be a real revenue stream for them quite quickly. They just need to partner with the right people.

A few years ago I made a prediction that when broadband got affordable at speeds over 8Mbps (the minimum speed you’d need to throw Freeview-quality digital down the line at real time, no downloads or extra compression needed), we’d start to see a new generation of devices that would offer full video-on-demand, with a move to put archives of content out there, ad-free, in return for micro-payments.

We’re seeing the broadband, and the video-on-demand is starting to roll, but they’re being cautious with it right now. The BBC Archive (due to launch in beta in the next month or two, apparently) is a step in the right direction, but it’ll take a while for commercial companies like ITV and Sky to realise they can make money from their archives without relying on adverts.

The Zonbu is a great little device that provides an alternative direction for the market - a functional Linux PC connected to your TV. Connecting computers to TVs is a great way to get devices out into people’s homes - look at what happened in the 80s with the micro revolution. If Zonbu can somehow integrate a video-on-demand service down the line, they could really make some headway into some interesting markets. One to watch.

Either way, I think we’re about to see a whole new generation of users get connected in the next two years in Europe and the US through decent set-top devices (not like the lousy first-gen boxes from a few years back). That new demographic, coupled with the proliferation of mobile Internet over Africa and Asia, means we’re going to see an underlying shift in how the Web is used, how it operates, and what expectations of the next generation of technology is going to be over the next 5 years.

Personally, I can’t wait.

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