QiGO : Your Special Key to the Internet

QiGO (pronounced "Key-Go") Internet Content Keys are USBs with heads that come in different shapes or logos—a rock band's logo or the shape of a cartoon character, to name a few. Each QiGO that you plug in to your PC's USB drive provides a unique themed experience on the Internet. Because each QiGO offers a unique experience on a device (think of accessing premium/subscription content or games), you don't have to worry about passwords or logins. Just plug in and start your Internet adventure. Each QiGO key has a unique authentication ID built into it.

Targeting the kid market, QiGO is hoping that these specialized USBs will offer an Internet experience on a stick, one that transports kids directly to a safe, gated environment. Konami offers a QiGO version of its online trading card game, Yu-Gi-Oh; Hasbro offers a Net Jet Game System; and Fisher-Price just licensed the concept to make the connection between Fisher-Price toys and special web content. I can see the day when you'll buy "the 6th grade web" on a QiGO and know that you're kids can surf safely and age appropriately.

For the older crowd, QiGO is hoping we'll want web subscriptions—maybe magazines or other premium services. And it's betting that companies would love to claim a unique QiGO design as their way of fostering customer loyalty. (Imagine that with my Knick's season tickets I'll get a QiGO that unlocks special content and has a nice Knicks logo on it.)

But I ask you, does anyone want to buy a web experience on a disk in a retail store? I'm not so sure. Dan Klitzner the company's founder sure thinks so.  He says that Amazon showed people how to buy physical goods in the online world and now he's out to prove that we'll buy online products in the physical world.

Would you buy an online subscription on a stick at the checkout counter?  Priced right QiGO might be a sweet impulse buy for the kids. For adults, there's enough free or easily accessible stuff on the web to make the necessity of owing a USB key to access content seem annoying unless you were truly ga-ga for the site's content (think Wall St. Journal or Conde Naste publications on a stick?). Besides, I haven't met a USB drive that I haven't misplaced, have you? The company says the USB will be good for use on any PC anywhere, which means that you'll be able to surf in an Internet Cafe or office, for example and leave no trace that you've been there. (Potentially great for wasting time at the office on games, porn or whatever.)

QiGo was announced at d5, a digital media tradeshow. Pricing will be set individually by companies that use them.  What would it take for you to shell out $15 for a QiGO?