You can download it here: http://www.archos.com/corporate/company/Presentation_ARCHOS_220408.pdf

Thanks to ArchosLounge.net

According to the financial document that Archos released this week, SFR is the only big telecom company to have announced the HSDPA partnership to cover France thus far, but Archos says they are counting on releasing the HSDPA devices with at least two other HSDPA telecom providers before the end of the year.

Who might those other two telecom partners be? Does Archos have advanced talks with someone in the USA thus far? I think it would probably be one of the US telecoms that is not ATT which has this exclusive deal with Apple for the iPhone. So I would think any of Sprint, Verizon or T-Mobile could potentially be a good telecom partner to launch the HSDPA device in the USA at attractive prices. Especially, as far as I know, in the USA you have to have an agreement with the telecom provider to even be allowed to use their HSDPA network, in the USA, you cannot have a product and put any HSDPA SIM card in it for it to work.

How about telecoms to cover other countries in Europe? Does Archos have advanced discussions going on with a german telecom? How will it connect in the UK? I would say that an agreement with Hutchinson Whampoa would be a good way to cover the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Austria, Hong Kong and Australia in one device distribution and content monetization agreement with Three. Something could go on with telefonica for Spain?

In any ways, I hope that Archos can quickly get nice agreements in place with HSDPA providers to cover every country in the world that has got HSDPA networks. Or at least that any HSDPA SIM card could be used in the remaining countries where there wouldn’t be a distribution agreement in place yet at the initial release of the HSDPA products.

Echostar owns around 20% of Archos stock, and they have just succeeded in buying a nearly national coverage of licences to deploy wireless broadband in the USA on the 700MHZ spectrum. Not only does that mean that Echostar can now deploy their own wireless broadband network to distribute video-on-demand directly to their set-top-boxes without being dependent on the established internet service providers, it also means Echostar can ask Archos to build for them a portable video player that will stream video directly over their 700Mhz WiMax networks.

They could also use their spectrum to build WiFi and WiMax mesh networks, thus blanketing the whole USA relativelty cheaply and rapidly with their own wireless broadband network. So customers who agree to install a little box outdoors next to their Dish Networks satellite dish, could then hookup to the central WiMax broadcaster and republish that signal to the whole nabourhood as Mesh networking of both the 700mhz signal and normal WiFi. Customers who would agree to install this free box could thus get a rebate on their Dish Network and wireless broadband subscription fees.

Another strategy could be for Echostar to use the established ADSL, Cable and Fiber networks that people already have gotten at home through established internet service providers and re-publish that Internet connection through the Ethernet plug of the set-top-box out to the nabourhood using the 700Mhz spectrum and WiFi. This way Echostar would basically just need to distribute set-top-boxes to cover a whole country with free wireless broadband. Other ISPs might complain that Echostar would be using their bandwidth, but that is the way Fon works today with a million users worldwide sharing their Internet connection using WiFi, and that way of doing wireless networking deployments might be approved and regulated into law by the politicians. As a means to lower the cost of deploying better and cheaper wireless broadband, supporting network neutrality which means ISPs should not be allowed to throttle or restrict in any ways how consumers use their internet connection.

Echostar should build their 700Mhz network in cooperation with Google, so that devices to use that 700Mhz spectrum also work in the unlicenced spectrum that Google is suggesting the FCC should be used for free wireless broadband.

Sources: Echostar’s 700Mhz spectrum, Google’s unlicenced spectrum proposition

If you are in the USA or Canada and considering buying an Archos for as cheap as possible, you might consider getting one refurbished at the official store. The prices are really good, and a refurbished product is most probably as good as new and comes with a 6 months warranty.

Here’s a selection of some of the best refurbished Archos you can get:

Refurbished Archos 605 - 30GB: $225 - product information
Refurbished Archos 605 - 80GB: $265 - product information
Refurbished Archos 605 - 160GB: $325 - product information

Refurbished Archos DVR Station - Gen 5: $55 - product information

Refurbished Archos 404 Camcorder 30GB: $165 - product information
Refurbished Archos 404 30GB: $145 - product information

Refurbished Archos AV500 30 GB: $145 - product information

Refurbished Archos Gmini 402: $125 - product information

Refurbished Archos 104 6GB: $75 - product information

Thanks to jbmm.fr for the tip.

I’m on the ArchosLounge.net ArchosCast episode 12 available at: http://www.archoslounge.net/L-emission-qui-reveille-ton-Archos,7882.html

With Yves, Thocan, iMike and N@styatak we talk about the latest Archos news, rumors, HSDPA, HD, open-source SDK possibillity, Flash support and more.

But it’s in French.

Sometime soon we should organize an English speaking Archos podcast on this site.

Imagine having ubiquituous wireless broadband connection to your Archos, streaming videos from anywhere not only on WiFi hotspots, integrated Voice-over-IP, an open applications platform (perhaps with some Google Android compatibillity), remote personal video recorder program guide control and ArchosLink synchronisation, instant global access to all the music of the world streaming through a service like unlimited Last.fm (currently available ad-supported in the USA, UK and Germany), full ubiquituous access to the Archos Content Portal, to your personal collection of files stored on your personal server or on a p2p file storage service such as http://wua.la.

This is not to be available yet, and Archos doesn’t seem to have a device they want to show yet. But the deal is now signed with the first HSDPA 3G+ provider to cover all Archos HSDPA consumers in France. HSDPA 3G+ providers in other countries could come next: Three? Deutshe Telekom? Telefonica? Swisscom? Vodafone?.. Consider the partner could appeal to HSDPA providers who did not sign with Apple yet, who would be seeking a better hardware and business model alternative…

So far, the official date is “before the end of 2008″. This could mean that the product starts to be unveiled soon, and released later, so the unveiling could perhaps come a bit before an eventual 3G iPhone release, by the time Google Android, Sony Ericsson’s Xperia and Nokia’s successor to the N810 are going to be released later this year.

A HSDPA Dock for the Gen 5 is not mentionned by Archos so far, but it would be nice, so that Gen 5 owners can get access to the ubiquituous multimedia in the pocket experience. VOIP was not mentionned eigther, and eventual subsidy of the hardware cost for content and data service subscriptions can only be assumed will be part of this deal.

Archos has not yet released many of the features of the Archos Gen 5 wishlist: http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?t=5046. Such promised features as the HD Plugin, Webradios and the FM Remote Control are still expected by the Archos Gen 5 Fans. And an open SDK policy by Archos as a reaction to the hacking activity would be a nice move by Archos if they have got the ressources to bring all these things to the already released product generations. So we are still waiting for official announcements and actions by Archos on these features.

Sources: http://www.lesmobiles.com/actualite/3413-sfr-signe-un-accord-de-partenariat-avec-archos.html

http://www.tekit.fr/breve-sfr-et-archos-partenaires,4074.html

You can discuss about the Archos TV+ in the forum: http://forum.archosfans.com/viewforum.php?f=27

Posted by http://www.unwiredshow.tv/2008/02/11/50-archos-tv-plus-launch/

It should be available during March for $199 in the USA and 199€ in Europe (including VAT taxes).

Cliff Edwards from Businessweek reports from CES:

The Archos TV+ is a piece of equipment that houses a hard drive and connects to the television to record shows and download movies, either directly or from a network connection to a home pc, from services such as CinemaNow and Amazon Unbox.

Archos says the box will be updated later to record in HD

I think he meant to report that Archos says the box will be updated later to playback HD content.

Archos does not seem to have a regular booth at CES, so Archos probably has some private hotel meeting room or something like that somewhere, where Archos sales people can meet with US based retailers and show the latest products. We will keep you updated if we find any specific coverage of how Archos really is present at the CES 2008, and if they have any official things to say about the HD Plugin, Webradio plugin, Realmedia plugin, Opera browser update and if they have some comments about the recent Archos Hacking that has been going on. It seems Archos is mostly releasing the TV+ at this CES. This is the coverage that Archos is getting in the media and on tech news blogs:

• CNBC “Power Lunch” Broadcast – Cooley’s CES Picks - Brian Cooley of CNET showcased the ARCHOS TV+ in this TV segment as one of the Top Portable and Tangible Devices at CES this year. The segment ran today at 9:00am PST. “You can say it’s what the Apple TV should have been.” – Brian Cooley. Watch the video here

• CNN – Broadcast is also with Brian Cooley who will be showing the ARCHOS TV+ - segment will run today at 3:00pm PST.

• G4 TV Network – Broadcast will run today at 7:00pm PST and will be highlighting the ARCHOS TV+ and 705 WiFi.

• Canada’s Get Connected Radio and TV Shows – Broadcasts highlight the 705 WiFi and ARCHOS TV+. Both are scheduled to run sometime in the next day or two.

• US News & World Report – Products that Download Movies to TV. More info

• Engadget – ARCHOS TV+ WiFi-enabled DVR Gets Official. More info

• Digital Trends – ARCHOS TV+ DVR Touts WiFi. More info

• TV Squad – ARCHOS TV Gets Official: PVR + Online Video Device. More info

• SlashGear – ARCHOS TV+ is Everything the Apple TV Should Have Been. More info

• Ubergizmo – ARCHOS TV+ Wireless DVR, Media Hub. More info

• PC Mag – It is safe to call the ARCHOS TV+ a groundbreaking product. More info

• CNET – ARCHOS TV+ Wireless DVR, Media Hub. More info