[10789] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Minitel vs what
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (rob horn)
Wed Mar 9 16:47:00 1994
Date: 09 Mar 1994 10:18:28 -0500 (EST)
From: rob horn <horn%temerity@leia.polaroid.com>
To: com-priv@psi.com
Minitel provides services that are more similar to the US 800- and
900- services than they are to the Internet. The US uses people and
voice phones rather than computers and terminals for most of the
information, ordering, and similar services. (Some of the Minitel
services correspond to various US online computer services as well.)
It is not immediately obvious to me which is providing the better
value for the money.
The US approach has traded a much higher operating cost (for the phone
staff) in return for a superior query processing and much lower
capital cost. I know a great many people who think that dealing with
a human being is an inherently superior means of getting service.
Humans can certainly provide considerably more flexibility in
understanding complex queries Minitel. I know that I have had the
option to handle my travel by computer or by using travel agents. I
find that for most purposes the travel agent is superior. They are
supported by lots of computer facilities, but they learned how to use
them. I did not have to. I just say "I'm going to DC again Thursday
and Friday. Same place and times as last time." And viola, tickets
appear on my desk, reservations have been made, everything happens.
The US capital cost is much less for several reasons. The biggest is
that all the millions of installed phones are usable. France invested
many billions of francs to install the Minitel system. 800- and 900-
service cost far less. You can also set up a new service very easily.
Assuming you have a decent credit rating, you get your telephone
number, rent some office space, and hire phone staff. Minor capital
investment. Minitel has a much larger setup cost for the server, menu
design, etc.
Minitel does have the very low operating cost advantage. You don't
need to staff with a dozen people just to be sure that your service is
available 24-hrs a day. Just feed electricity to your computer. It
is much faster for simple queries than the human. It can handle
sudden surges that leave the US system swamped with busy telephone
lines.
Minitel also solves the present US problem with billing for low cost
services. As has been mentioned, it is very hard to get credit card
service for telephone based services. Some reasons were mentioned.
Another important one is that experience has shown the telephone based
services to be much more vulnerable to fraud than storefront services.
Assuming you can get credit card service, you then face a high
operating cost problem. The per transaction fixed costs for verification,
slip processing, etc run in the range of $0.10 to $0.50. This becomes
a big problem when you are selling low cost items.
If you assume that prices approximate costs (true for open competitive
markets) many of today's ftp, gopher, etc services should cost from
$0.10 to $2.00 per hour per user. I actually expect this to happen if the
billing problems can be solved. I also expect to see lots of use at
that kind of rate. But most of the bills will be for under $1.00.
The transaction processing costs for credit cards become prohibitive.
Minitel has provided a solution to that problem.
I am not too worried about Minitel replacing the Internet. I worry
much more that the Internet players will forget why they exist (or
spend their time arguing about it :-) ). The research net exists to study
new networking technologies. The academic and commercial net exists
to provide service to its customers. I have watched too many
organizations (US car manufacturers being a famous example) that
forgot that their reason for existence is to provide a product that
satisfies their customers.
Rob Horn horn@temerity.polaroid.com
