By now you have probably heard about these newfangled netbooks, products like the ASUS Eee PC and Dell Inspiron Mini 9.
I've suggested that the biggest growth potential for these devices
would come from emerging markets. But after a closer look, I've seen
some trends that most likely will cause greater demand in the U.S. and Europe as well.
Early netbooks ran Linux, which plays well in emerging markets but
failed to strike a real chord with consumers here in the U.S. In fact,
people who returned some of these first-gen netbooks told me that the
main reason was that they thought these were just cheap notebooks. And
once they got them home and tried to link them to their printers,
digital cameras, and so forth, they were very disappointed with their
limited capabilities.
What people wanted was a small notebook with Windows XP
so they could run existing software—and more important, it would work
with their Windows ecosystem. Sure, there are ways to make Linux
netbooks use these types of peripherals, but it's not easy, and people
who were mostly Windows users wanted an OS and functionality they were
familiar with.
Something interesting also came out of these interviews. In a lot of
cases, families had a desktop or laptop on the kitchen counter or in
the den that served as a kind of community PC, where everyone in the
family could check e-mail and sports scores, get news and weather, and
so on. Often kids hog the PC, for MySpace, instant messaging, games,
and the like. Quite a few parents told me they bought a netbook to get
the kids off the family PC and let them go online in their rooms on
their own.
Kids quickly saw that the early Linux netbooks couldn't run their
favorite programs and were way too underpowered for what they wanted to
do, which included playing PC games as well as doing their homework.
This type of feedback has caused all of the netbook players here in
the U.S. to add Windows XP versions, models that are garnering the most
attention and starting to take off. And while ASUS and Acer have taken
strong positions, Dell, HP, and Lenovo have also realized that there
was interest in consumer markets for a product like this and have
responded with solid products of their own.
I see a bifurcation of the netbook market coming. Versions based on
Linux continue to find homes in emerging markets where there are no
legacy issues; Linux can easily accommodate the majority of needs in
these markets. But in the U.S. and some areas of Europe, Windows XP
netbooks are viewed by consumers simply as smaller, cheaper notebooks.
To that end, I don't believe there really is a netbook market in the
U.S.: These smaller laptops are just an extension of existing notebook
lines. In fact, I think consumers view them as cheaper ultraportables.
But there's something even more important developing around XP-based
netbooks. I recently went to a few college campuses to talk to kids
about their usage of notebooks and found that many of them no longer
actually take notebooks to class. They told me they're too heavy to lug
around; some said they bought desktops instead.
On a lark, I showed them the Acer Aspire One.
Their reaction was amazing; these kids hadn't seen netbooks before and
marveled at the size and sleek design. They instantly understood the
limitations but also recognized that for taking notes, basic Internet
connection, and productivity away from the dorm, these could really be
an important tool. (I showed it to 25 students. That weekend, four went
out and bought their own.) But the most interesting thing that came out
of this simple research was that these kids viewed netbooks as a PC
companion.
In other recent interviews with families, the "PC companion" idea
came up as well, and I don't believe this way of thinking is a fluke.
The concept may have legs, and could be the way these products gain
market traction.
So how do PC vendors harness this interest? Portability, durability,
and longer battery life are important, but the real thing is
synchronization software provided between the main PC and this
companion. It could be some type of dock, or even over-the-air cloud
syncing, but in the end, anything that was done on a PC companion would
have to be easily transferred to the desktop for further interaction
and additional productivity.
Add a 3G wireless chip to a device like this and get the carriers to
charge $19.95 for an all-you-can-eat data plan and these products could
really take off. In fact, an even-more-tantalizing scenario would be
the carriers themselves subsidizing these gadgets and selling them
through their stores.
Ultimately, consumers will be the ones to tell us what they really
want in a device like this, and how they would use them. What would
make you rush to the store today?
Source : http://www.pcmag.com/
