At first glance, here's something I don't get: Webaroo. They store the content of Web pages for offline retrieval, apparently keeping it searchable and serving it alongside ads. Acer laptops will come with a 40Gb pre-packaged web pack. I'm sure, or at least I hope, they're doing something more than saving webpages and displaying ads, but I can't help but be reminded of all those products like SurfOffline that saved a local copy of a website.
Granted, I'm in one of those "metropolitan areas" that has a 3G network, but the coverage is getting better every day. It's clear that the "online web" is greater than the "offline web" even if it's not broadband speeds. Being connected allows me to do a lot more than just read the "best of the Web", whatever that means.
But let's take a step back: Even before I had this always-on connection, I had all the things I really wanted to read already saved in my RSS reader for offline consumption.
It just seems like a curious place for a startup. On one side, they are racing against the connectivity from both WWAN deployment and municipal / free WiFi. On the other, the savvy "road warrior" probably already has their content available offline through RSS. Once RSS really hits the mainstream user (and I think IE7 will be a big flag-bearer in this effort), why do they need Webaroo?
If the investors are reading, give me a call - I can think of a lot better things to do with your $8 million.