File this under: strange electronic devices you never knew existed. Introduced in November 1999, the Netpliance i-Opener is basically an internet-connected computer with a dedicated pizza key, which works exactly like it sounds. Press the Pizza key to order a pizza from an online merchant and then choose from a selection of toppings.
Since the appliance was offered for just $99 USD ($181.65 in 2023), internet access was limited to Netpliance’s own service plan. Hardware wise, it features a 10-inch (800 x 600) LCD screen with built-in stereo speakers, a 180MHz IDT WinChip C6 Socket 7 CPU, 32MB of SO-DIMM RAM, and a 16MB SanDisk Flash module, all running on the QNX operating system. Two caveats: the hardware was sold below cost, as it cost Netpliance between $300 – $400 to build each one and someone managed to modify the hardware to bypass the need for the subscription service plan. This caused Netpliance to implement a $499 termination fee for those wishing to leave the service plan and eventually exit the internet device market in January 2022 after the i-Opener’s price ballooned to $400.
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