There is a growing obsession to have devices that are small in size yet big on features. The iPhones, the Blackberry’s and recently the Android based phones are all forays by some of the most innovative and trend setting technical companies in the world to get on the ‘good things come in small packages’ band wagon. The above mentioned companies have feature rich software platforms running on hand held devices which are no bigger than the palm of your hands [did I forget to mention the Palm 'Treo' ?]
However, human ingenuity has no upper limits and a new type of small device is making ripples [or has been doing so for the past 2 years] in the computer hardware industry.
“Say hello to my little friend” - the netbook.
Simply put, the netbook is a small laptop which allows web browsing. It is smaller and lighter than the average laptop.
With the ever increasing battle to capture the market share of this new segment in computer hardware, manufacturers are slashing the cost of their netbooks dramatically [read more about it].
So the question that has been swimming in my head for a while is : are netbooks here to stay ?
Based on the trends which are gaining popularity in the computer industry, I would enthusiastically say yes.
Netbooks look set for a take off
According to alexa.com, the top 5 sites on June 23rd 2009 are :
- yahoo
- youtube
- windows live
At the cost of sounding like I am generalising web usage trends [and for the sake of my argument I am], most of the top sites mentioned have a dependance on cloud computing. This takes away any need that users might have to perform memory jarring number crunching on their own machines.
Casual users should increase in the coming years [what with the rising popularity of facebook and youtube] and the fact that netbooks are relatively cheaper than a regular laptop [and are getting cheaper every day] could seriously help netbook sales gain some solid ground against its older and beefier brother - the laptop.
Industry giants like Oracle have already hinted at being interested in manufacturing netbooks. According to comments made by Larry Ellison, Oracle wanted to use its acquisition of Sun Microsystems help it crack into the hardware industry [read here]
Another give away for most techies that netbooks will be big in the future is the way Microsoft has been dealing with their emergence. Redmond based Microsoft has usually always started off on the wrong side of future trends [think about their initial reluctance to support open source software and their recent efforts to include open source in their own software arsenal] and even in this case, it has for right now taken a stance contrary to what is happening in the industry. They have not right out avoided netbooks but according to a report published in computer world in March 2009, they are for the time being trying to ensure that netbooks dont become stronger than a regular laptop.
Regardless of what Microsoft wishes for the future of netbooks, there are things happening that will keep the development of stronger, faster and cheaper netbooks going in the right direction.
Price could still make a difference
Netbook manufacturers have to make sure that they price netbooks at a cost which is significantly lower than the laptops yet provide at least the minimum feature set available in most laptops. If they dont, buyers will try to get the most bang for their buck and that could mean lower sales for the netbook.
For right now I ll stick to my HP XPS but when its time to change my machine, it might be a netbook that becomes my equipment of choice.
