Ericsson, the marketer of wireless phones and telecom infrastructure, is targeting retail distribution for its broadband DSL and cable modems and a planned Internet radio/hard-drive audio recorder that users could connect to broadband modems.
“We are in discussions with top retailers to get our modems into retail,” said Curt Matson, marketing director for Ericsson’s multiservice networks division.
In the United States, the company already sells data-only cable modems to cable operators Time-Warner and Adelphia. For its first home audio device, Ericsson is targeting telecom carriers, retailers and OEM. The device is due around the second quarter of 2002.
The device will use iM Networks’ internet streaming technology and service. iM has agreements with about 800 streaming sites to offer licensed content to users of iM-equipped CE devices in the MP3, Windows Media and Real Audio formats. About a third of the stations licensed by iM for use in CE devices are AM and FM stations. The remaining are Web-only broadcasters.
The device will feature hard drive and MP3 encoder/decoder to rip, store and play back music ripped from a separate CD player.
