By Dave Murray
The low price point is certainly a major factor driving market uptake. In the current global recession, nearly everyone is interested in saving money. Whether you’re considering purchasing your first computer or replacing an old one, more of us can afford a netbook than a full priced, full powered notebook. The most popular netbook models fall into the $300 or less price range, and some are even lower now that major carriers are starting to package netbooks together with service plans.
And yet it’s more than low-price points that make netbooks so attractive.
A study being conducted by Reinvent Mobile and CMO Council reports a high rate of concern among respondents over issues like portability, battery life, connectivity, and instant-on access to applications. And over half of all users in the study say they only use five applications frequently while mobile, four of which are web-based. (Word processing was the only app that isn’t commonly web-based.) The netbook clearly addresses a whole host of user needs and desires.
If you consider netbooks, by design they are minimal in size which makes portability that much easier for on-the-go users. They provide basic feature requirements most people use like IM, email, Internet, or other simple apps which require less battery usage. Plus they’re super efficient if you have instant-on technologies like HyperSpace installed where the Internet or email can be accessed instantly without prolonged OS boot. I want one!
Analyst Rob Enderle said it best in one of our recent editorials when he talks about the birth of the mobile companion – a mobile device that turns technology from a “tool to an assistant.” A netbook may not be the ultimate companion, but it can certainly feed that kind of user desire.
Of course, netbooks may not be for everybody. In that study described above, the size of mobile computers was a major source of frustration for users in both camps. An equal number of users complained that their notebooks screens and keyboards were too small versus those who said their computers were too large and cumbersome to carry.
Let us know what you think about netbooks. Love them? Hate them? Is the uptake simply an effect of the recession, or are they here to stay? Could they ever become your primary computer?
