In keeping with that spirit, when my Macintosh PowerBook fell prey to crippling seizures in early June, I sent it off to be repaired and resorted to using an i-opener, a stripped-down Internet appliance, for a week.

Internet appliances have been the "next big thing" since Oracle CEO Larry Ellison started trumpeting their potential in the mid-1990s; the difference now is that they're actually available to consumers. By Christmas, there could easily be a half-dozen different models on the market.

Internet appliances provide a connection to the Net and some pre-loaded e-mail and browsing software, but no hard drive. They could bring Net access to the estimated 40 percent of U.S. households that don't already have PCs, and could also serve as second computers -- bare-bones surfing devices -- in homes that already have a traditional PC.

One question is how profitable the "forgotten 40 percent" -- households that haven't yet scraped together the cash for a PeoplePC, (a 400 MHz Toshiba desktop can be had for $24.95 per month) or an eMachine (a 500 MHz computer starts at $399) -- will prove to marketers of Web stock brokerages, online services and home grocery delivery firms. The folks who are just now considering getting online undoubtedly will require much more support and hand-holding than earlier adopters. Another question is whether the devices will be as functional, addictive and easy-to-use as those other household favorites: the telephone and the television.

But before long, Internet appliances will likely be given away by banks, ISPs and brokerages in order to attract and retain customers, whose monthly fees would eventually cover the cost of the devices. In late June, Intel announced the Dot.Station, a $500 Internet appliance that will be distributed exclusively through those kind of partnerships.

Oracle is releasing its own Internet appliance, the New Internet Computer, this week, and America Online and Gateway are rumored to be on the verge of announcing something called the "Web pad," which is expected to cost around $600, though consumers who commit to a long-term AOL subscription will undoubtedly pay much less. The MSN Companion, a device that will be available as soon as August, will be nearly free if buyers engage in a lingering lip-lock with MSN.

Of course, much of what made the i-opener so appealing to me was its $99 price. The thing was practically disposable; it was certainly cheaper than renting a substitute PowerBook for a week. And it was easy to imagine i-openers being given as Mother's and Father's Day presents, or a couple of them sitting under the Christmas tree. Compared to the other Internet appliances already on the market, like WebTV and the Mailstation -- the i-opener simply offered more for the money. (The Mailstation, at $99, doesn’t even let you surf the Web or open e-mail attachments.)

But after I'd got my hands on one, Netpliance unveiled a radical alteration of its pricing. The company had been hinting all along that $99 was only an introductory price, and that it would rise to $199 around Father's Day. Instead, on June 29, Netpliance issued a press release announcing that not only was it not going to sell any more $99 i-openers, but it wasn't going to sell any i-openers at all until this fall, when the price would rise to $399. The hardware will stay the same, and users will get a few new features, like instant messaging, stock tracking, and support for up to four e-mail accounts -- but the new price could render the i-opener about as appealing as a tanning lamp on Survivor Island.

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