Presto: The paper industry's answer to a paperless world
I heard about this on the radio this morning on my commute and after the initial disbelief wore off, I could not stop laughing. It's called Presto and it is basically a printer connected to a phone line that can receive e-mails and then prints them out. The hardware costs $149 and the service is $9.99/mo. or $99.99/yr.
The commercial was hilarious; some woman past middle age was saying, "everyone uses e-mail these days but I don't have a computer. Fortunately I can receive e-mails with Presto! I just hook it up to a phone jack and e-mails that are sent to me are automatically printed out! I'll never have to deal with difficult-to-use computers at all!" What a riot!
Now that I've looked at the website, though, I'm not quite sure what to think. It's like a fax machine that only receives, and you set up a list of people that can send to you, and all they do is type up a regular e-mail and send it to your presto.com address. It's really like, anyone who uses Presto can receive the equivalent of a letter, except that it's zero effort for you because all you are sending is an e-mail. So, for the Presto user who has no interest in owning an actual computer, browsing the web, or sending e-mails of their own, it's actually kind of a deal. Compared to paying a few hundred dollars for a bare-minimum PC or Mac that might be a pain to deal with (especially with the substandard PCs on the market that lure unknowing customers in with ridiculously low prices), and then having to deal with monthly Internet subscription, which is either lousy dial-up at the same monthly price or broadband which will always cost at least $20/mo., the whole Presto package is not overpriced at all, even with the cost of ink. And, considering that paper is far more legible than computer screens and most potential Presto users would want to print things out anyway, it's basically removing the middle-ware (that whole PC setup) and letting the e-mail get to the printer much easier.
If anything, the computer companies are to blame for making computers so complicated, and the telecoms are to blame for making Internet access such a hassle. The fact that someone can get on a commercial and call computers "difficult to use" and sell an alternative to Internet access that is this complicated just speaks for how messed-up the computer industry is these days. Where are the thin-clients that give people basic access to the Internet and email? The ones that require very little set up and come with low monthly access fees? The ones that are designed to be easy on the eyes and use minimal hardware? The ones for that other half of the population, made up of people who don't really care about transparent windows or file previews? You have to admit, those users have been seriously neglected by the computer industry, and as much as I want to point to something like Presto and laugh and say, "that's a horrible idea, I don't know why anyone would want it," the reality is that I can see exactly why people would want it and it fills a serious gap in the whole computer industry.
p.s.: Presto users get to do all their setup by phone; they just call up customer service, get an address, set up the addresses to receive from, and they are good to go. If they ever have issues, they just call up customer service and get help. When did we get so backwards in the computer industry that reliable customer support via telephone at no extra cost became a feature?
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This is hilarious…Awesome story. I agree with you. The world is changing….customer service is now a FEATURE.
I hope that the Presto ink cartridge is substantially easier to replace than standard printers.
I think a much better idea is for the postal service to print out the document at their site and deliver it the next day. Or for third parties to get as close to that ideal as possible (Postful for example).
Someone who doesn't want a computer doesn't want any equipment to maintain AT ALL.
"They're gonna let us use their Mo-Jo"
"Their what?"
"A Mo-Jo, it's a very high-tech machine that transmits pages over the telephone! It only takes eighteen minutes a page!"
Only slightly more complex but a lot cheaper would be to get a simple used fax machine (check Craigslist) and have people use a free online fax service (eg. FaxZero) to write Grandma. And if the fax machine doesn't automatically distinguish fax and voice calls, you can buy a fax switch to do that ($15-$40).
Well I got one for my mom (80+ years old, poor health, terrified of technology). So far, it's awesome. The grandkids are able to dash off quick emails to her. They'd never bother going to a fax site (even if it was easy). Email is much easier for them. It prints out the pics too, so she doesn't have to do anything. We have a caregiver with her during the day, so the caregiver can add paper or ink if needed. Paper is super easy. Ink could be a challenge for the elderly (it's similar to other cartridges). This takes care of spam concerns and avoids having a computer that my mother wouldn't want (or use).
Is there nothing better than this? Check out the UK equivalent the E-M@iler. Basically a phone with a screen to display received emails and a keyboard to send them (no ISP reqd). No printer cartridges (difficult and expensive for people like my grandma). The only problem is that it only works on UK phone system.
http://www.amstrad.com/products/emailers/emp.html