Consumers Buying Faster Than Vendors Can Stock WebTVs

One of the primary vendors of the newly enhanced WebTV Plus set-top box, Mitsubishi Consumer Electronics America (MCEA), says it can’t keep up with consumer demand for the devices in the US. According to MCEA sources, order backlogs have been piling up despite the fact that MCEA has been shipping its WB-2000 models into retail channels for almost a full month now.

MCEA’s director of marketing, Bob Perry, said the firm had adopted a "very aggressive" production level from the beginning and had expected good demand.

"Even so," he added, "the orders came in from the start at levels at least 100 percent higher than we expected. We’re very heavily back-ordered and we’re trying to increase production as soon as possible."

He said back orders should be filled within the next few weeks.

Perry acknowledged much of the unexpected demand is probably due to seasonal holiday buying: "It’s a very popular gift. Parents are giving them to children so they can do their research on the Internet, for one thing. But we can’t determine how much is due to holiday and how much is because of the new features."

Mitsubishi was first to market with the devices, though Sony and Philips also have started shipping them recently. WebTV boxes are installed on the top of a television set and must connect to the Internet through WebTV Networks, which Microsoft bought earlier this year for $425 million. The subscription costs up to $19.95 a month, though a recent deal with long distance phone carrier MCI is expected to drop the cost to around $14.95.

WebTV Plus has a street price of around $199 after a $100 rebate, compared with $99 for the older version. The rebate offer expires Dec. 31, but when asked, Perry said 1998 full retail and estimated street prices have not yet been decided. Manufacturers often drop their prices at the end of a promotional rebate offer. Perry, however, would not comment whether Mitsubishi expects to reduce its WebTV prices in January.

Under the current WebTV Plus standard, which is enhanced from the original version, the boxes are in effect little computers with a TV for a monitor. They come with PC-like features including a built-in K56flex 56 Kbps (kilobits per second) modem and a 1.1 GB (gigabyte) hard drive. The new models also are able to show "picture in picture" windows, so viewers can watch TV and surf the net at the same time.