

Q1 netbook shipments rise sevenfold - ilamont
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/05/01/netbook-shipments-rise-sevenfold-during-q1

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noss
I wonder if netbooks open up a business opportunity. To use the fact that the
category is new and most software is not designed for the screensize, usage
pattern or hardware. It is difficult though, since they are not that extremely
different. My vague ideas that haven't materialized to good ideas are:

* Design websites with the screensize in mind (dimensions as well as font sizes). * Overall focus on what _usage_ difference there is between netbooks and desktop computers. With a netbook you either have short 10 minute sessions going online for something at a cafe, or you use them as entertainment while traveling without or with only spotty connectivity.

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jerf
I think thinking of them as a separate segment carries a certain danger.
They're just computers; in a small form factor, but computers. Build a nice,
simplified interface if you like, but there's little to no reason not to offer
that simplified interface on larger computers, too. A person who may not want
the full power of a computer may still want a larger screen and better
keyboard.

There's also no reason to artificially limit the software load, especially if
you start with open source. These machines are perfectly capable of a wide
variety of operations, pretty much everything except video editing and heavy-
duty graphics editing.

A netbook dropped back in time three or four years ago would be considered an
excellent machine, except oddly crippled by the somewhat underpowered CPU
(even by 2006 standards). But otherwise well-endowed on IO, decent screen,
ample storage (especially the RAM), etc, all at a price that would have caused
rioting in front of the stores come Black Friday.

I'll say it again, to be clear: There may be room for specialized interfaces
for certain users, but there's little need to bind that to the netbook form
factor. Both power-user and low-power-user interfaces can be used almost all
the way up and down the product line. (Even the high-powered gaming machines
could use a simplified interface just fine, as long as the owner could play
WOW.)

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devicenull
I'd say that everyone wants a cheap laptop. It's been that way for years...
Now that we have cheap laptops that let people do the majority of what they
want to do (browse the web, check email), it makes perfect sense that they
would be hugely popular.

