Videocom: Difference between revisions

In 1976, after the [[Delepasian Commonwealth]] was formed, the newly-established [[Blue Telecom Group]] (GTA) was tasked to create a new telephone service. One that used a video screen, made greater use of interactivity, and, most importantly, had to make use of a physical object that wasn't just the phone itself. In March of 1977, they began to experimentally roll out this new service to the city of [[Adouka]], where it was met with great success from its test consumers. Encouraged, the GTA began to expand the service nationwide that summer where it was met with even more positive feedback. Satisfied, the service was christened ''Telévideo'', a sort of {{wp|portmanteau}} of ''videoteléfono'', and was released commercially in 1979 alongside the Televideo 1 terminal.

==Business model==

The Blue Telecom Group intended for Televideo to serve as an electronic directory of telephone and address information so as to increase phone line usage while reducing the costs of having to print {{wp|phone books}} and employing {{wp|directory assistance}} personnel. Because the primary users of Televideo would be people who already have a telephone subscription, the terminals were given out at no additional cost to existing subscribers, and it served as an incentive for others to get a telephone subscription.

==Technology==

Televideo used {{wp|computer terminals}} initially consisting of a {{wp|text-only}} monochrome {{wp|Computer display|monitor}}, a {{wp|computer keyboard|keyboard}} and a {{wp|modem}}, packaged into a single tabletop unit. These original terminals could make use of a set of {{wp|block graphics}} characters to depict a rudimentary form of graphics. The monochrome units would soon be replaced with colour units in the mid-1980s. Compatible printers were also available.

Televideo terminals typically use the {{wp|AZERTY}} keyboard, but variants using the {{wp|QWERTY}} keyboard or even an ABCDEF keyboard layout exist in some models.

==Televideo and the Internet==

==Rebranding to Videocom==

In 2003, as part of an ambitious government programme to modernise and retain the Televideo service in face of the advent of the Internet, Televideo underwent an extensive series of upgrades to bring the service to the [[21st Century]]. Some of the major changes was a new way of access via the Internet as well as the discontinuation of tabletop terminals, it being replaced with {{wp|PCs}} while any subsequent dedicated terminals would be portable that would be wirelessly linked to a modem which was linked by wire to the phone line. In light of these changes, Televideo was rebranded as Videocom in light of it no longer being exclusive to phone subscriptions, and was soon spun off as a separate subsidiary of RumaTel. Videocom's new business model now allowed for it to be given to ISP subscribers at no additional cost, much like it was back when the service was first launched in 1979. Other innovations included newer modems that could downlink and uplink at far higher speeds than before. These new modems could also be connected to an Internet modem or receiver, meaning that terminals had a quicker way to access the Internet.

*Televideo 1 (1979)

*Televideo 3 (1983)

*Televideo Lite (2003)

===Videocom (2003-present)===