Compaq plans Internet appliance

Compaq Computer is planning a simple keyboard-with-screen product as it prepares to enter the "Internet appliance" market.

Slated for release next year, the product will offer rudimentary email and Web browsing capability. The company is also said to be developing a business strategy stressing how the product is used rather than the device itself.

Sources familiar with the device say it is similar to the "emessage" device from Cidco, offered by Southwestern Bell and Pacific Bell.

IBM is also planning a simple and inexpensive "countertop" computer which provides quick access to the Internet and email, while NEC and Intel launched a phone/web terminal project in Japan earlier this fall.

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