In terms of user adoption, it was a huge success. Probably even higher than the Internet today. Really computer-illiterate people managed to use it.
The number of services available was crazy. Most ads in the street would have a "URL", just like now with the web.
It also was an early example of how free can serve as the basis for a very profitable business model.
It succeeded in countries where the entire ecosystem was well thought out (and controlled, kind of like the iPhone app store). Just the terminal by itself, without the ecosystem, probably failed miserably in other countries, if they tried to export it.
In terms of user adoption, it was a huge success. Probably even higher than the Internet today. Really computer-illiterate people managed to use it.
The number of services available was crazy. Most ads in the street would have a "URL", just like now with the web.
It also was an early example of how free can serve as the basis for a very profitable business model.
It succeeded in countries where the entire ecosystem was well thought out (and controlled, kind of like the iPhone app store). Just the terminal by itself, without the ecosystem, probably failed miserably in other countries, if they tried to export it.