The recently christened “netbook” market has exploded over the past year as new entrants and established computer manufacturers have released a bevy of new, inexpensive products into the disruptive category.
Netbooks, relatively small and very inexpensive notebook computers designed primarily for mobile Internet connectivity and useful for little more than browsing, e-mail, and running productivity software, fit nicely in a niche for consumers who have been simultaneously overserved by traditional laptops and underserved by high-end smartphones.
If this niche seems familiar, it should. Manufacturers have struggled to shoehorn attractive products into this niche for years, but until recently they tended to be unwilling to aim low enough on features or on prices.
Some have sought to fill that gap by focusing primarily on size and producing ultra-slim laptops with feature sets (and price points) comparable to those of larger computers. Lenovo’s X Series and the $1799 MacBook Air, for instance, actually charge a hefty premium for providing features similar to those of a midsize laptop in a more portable package.
Microsoft, on the other hand, was more willing to limit features and provide a “good-enough” product when it developed its “Ultra-Mobile PC” platform (known as Origami), but Origami-powered devices failed to catch on as high prices (not to mention horrific usability problems) turned potential customers away.
Netbooks, however, seem more attractively positioned than these products, and they have great potential to disrupt the laptop industry. Consider, for example, Acer’s new Aspire One, now widely available for $379. It’s hopelessly outgunned by pricier laptops: its screen is small, it runs Linux instead of Windows, it comes with relatively little RAM, its processor is slow, and its solid state drive is Lilliputian.
But those shortcomings aren’t terribly important to consumers when their goals are simply portability, connectivity, and productivity at a low price; an ultra-portable that can run Crysis is ludicrously overwrought in comparison.
It seems very likely to me that there's much more expansion in store for this segment of the computing market as manufacturers introduce still more products, the cost of computing power continues to decline, and consumer awareness of these options grows. I'll be curiously watching as the low-end disruption develops.
Earlier this year on InnoBlog, Natalie Painchaud discussed the ASUS Eee Surf's potential to be used as a second computer for families.