Akimbo service reviewed
Akimbo is a set-top box that provides access to internet-based video content. This product won’t get off the ground, because the content offerings are too limited to make it an alternative to traditional cable or satellite service rather than simply a nice complement to it. Plus, the box is too expensive for what it does, which does *not* seem to include the ability to play video files from your computer on the TV screen.
But I think it’s a notable shot across the bow of the MSOs — IPTV is coming, and it doesn’t mean watching in small choppy windows at a computer desk. If Akimbo (or someone else, like, erm, Verizon via Microsoft) were able to line a critical mass of the major cable and broadcast nets to provide content, and set a price point at or below current digital cable subscription rates, we could see that player doing to the cable operators what the cable ops are currently doing to the telcos with VOIP.
[edit] Featured in today’s NY Times as well. How could I miss that?