But when it comes to compromise, although many phones could do some of the things [an Archos can], we choose not to do that, as things like the quality of the screen is not good enough, not up to the experience level found on an Archos.
I'm not saying the Archos phone won't happen, if we were to deliver an Archos 5 with phone functionality that would appeal to some people, though I haven't seen any prototypes.
When will Archos begin offering larger solid-state flash drives in devices?
At Archos, we are staying the way we are for capacity, which is the thing we want to deliver to consumers as it's more about functionality. In a way it's a little bit like the opposite of the camera market where a lot of people are chasing pixels, upgrading for the sake of it, but if it's got a good lens then 5MP is more than good enough.
I currently use an Archos 605 160GB that is pretty much full. I have a lot of content, not just music, I've got recorded TV, DVDs, digital photos, digital files, and there's storage for all of that.
But as and when solid-state drives get larger then maybe we'll go down that route.
What's next?
We'll continue to develop our products in the same way as we have in the past: [on the new Internet Media Tablets] the buttons are gone, same footprint [as the 04/05 series] but with up to a five-inch screen, and if you look at the Internet Media Tablets against previous models, the screen quality has improved too.
There's no reason why we wouldn't use an OLED screen either; it's currently more expensive, but if it helps us improve the device, then it's a good use of the technology, so we might put it in when it's ready.
Does Archos plan to offer any other type of content?
It's not just about movies and games; it's about anything we think is engaging to the end user.
For instance, in France we have a partnership with a German news provider, so [we could offer] movies, music, news, travel info, weather info; it's more about a holistic range of services.
There are also around 50,000 artists making music available on internet free of charge, so there's a lot of content [going on the devices] that we're not even touching.
There are other things we're going to do on content that I can't really go into that are going to expand what we offer, which will be other media to go onto the Archos devices.
How do you deal with the thorny issue of converting DVDs to be played on Archos PMPs?
You can record DVDs onto an Archos device in real time, which is the same as recording from a TV. The user has bought the rights to do that; what they don't have is the right to do is to send that file into another TV [or computer], that is illegal.
If you're using Archos unit, you're not changing the file format through the player, and you have the right for private use. It's not taking away any of the DRM, and you can't copy the file to a PC as it won't play, and the user has no legal rights at all on that.
We are very careful on what can and can't be done; [the user] is not allowed to rip DVDs, they can record from a DVD player, but they can't send the file anywhere or duplicate it.
Say it was possible to rip a DVD legally to an Archos. Would that be of interest to you?
It would make sense if it was tested and it worked. Let's say there is such software, you would be removing the DRM, so I don't see how it would be possible.
If it was, then do Archos make that part of our offering, or would it be something you can do with an Archos? If you're allowed to get that content on to the players, then it's fine.
How will the latest models [the Archos 5 and 7] help Archos in a congested media player market?
The Internet Media Tablets will not only help keep our lead in the market when it comes to features, but the other great thing [about the models] is it's the first time that people will say that not only have we got great feature benefits, but we've actually got some good styling, as our products have tended to look a little techie in the past.
Look at the Archos 504, it has great features, but it looks a bit like a techie product. To appeal to the mass market you need to have something that not only does the job but looks good as well, because obviously we are competing against very stylish products.
I think Internet Media Tablets deliver that. The technology keeps us ahead of the competition, and if we don't stay ahead then we will lose our market lead.
