Netbook Warning Label
Netbooks have secured a permanent place for themselves in the computer market. What was once believed to be a fad by Intel and Microsoft as recently as April, 2009. In a New York Times article “Light and Cheap, Netbooks are Posted to Reshape PC Industry“:
“When these things are sold, they need clear warnings labels about what they won’t be able to do,” said Sean M. Maloney, the chief sales and marketing officer at Intel. “It would be good to wait and play with one of these products before the industry gets carried away.”
The opening of the Consumer Electronics Show this month has proven that Microsoft and Intel are no longer trying to warn consumer about netbooks, but instead art trying to play catch up to a market that left them behind.
Netbooks have a secure hold of the sweet spot between a smartphone and a laptop. Consumers want web browsing and multimedia capabilities which are limited on a smartphone without the weight and heft of a full laptop and the netbook delivers both for a reasonable price of under $400.
At CES you can see the broad array of 2010 offerings all in the netbook market, but with many new names like, hybrid, smartbook, tablet, slate, dual screen and more.
The bottom line is that the consumers have won. Instead of the arrogant computer giants like Intel and Microsoft telling us what we needed, we decided that less computing is okay and we won.
So Mr. Maloney (Intel) have you finished designing your warning label for netbooks? Maybe you can find a place for your warning label on Intel’s new AppUpCenter, an app store just for netbooks where the tagline says “Do More with Your Netbook”
