The Disruptive Power of Netbooks
The idea of light-weight, low-cost, but very powerful laptops designed for a smaller feature set than traditional laptops has been around for a decade or so. But all indications are that something has changed in the market place. Due to a convergence of many factors, netbooks are growing in sales. These factors include the continual improvement in wireless speeds, the more widespread availability of wifi, the continued drop in cost of hardware, the continued increase in performance of open source operating systems and open source applications, the unstoppable move to more thin-client solutions, and the dramatically increased capabilities of cloud computing services (including the entire web2.0 megatrend and of course the continued innovations of Google in the cloud computing and online applications space).
I just did a few searches on Amazon and Bestbuy for netbooks devices, and pulled up entries for small notebooks like the Acer Aspire One, an 8.9-inch mini laptop that runs Linux Lite and sells for under $300.00. It has plenty of capability and is very lightweight. It comes loaded with applications, including open source office automation packages (I think I would want to download the most recent version of open office if I purchased this). It also comes with a built in camera and is ready for high end video chat.
Will I buy one? There are clearly some of these in my future, I just don’t know when. I have a MacBook and I really like it for everything I need in a laptop. I use it around the house and on travel. And, although it is over a year old now, it doesn’t need replacement. When it does, however, I’m going to be asking myself why I would want to pay $1000 more for a Mac instead of a couple hundered for a Netbook. So much of what I do I do on the cloud anyway, and the many things I do locally can be done using the free Open Office.
If we assume the same sort of trades are being considered by other buyers, a conclusion starts to emerge. Netbooks are going to be a very disruptive force in the market.
And what is the market saying so far about this trend? Acer is reporting huge success with their netbooks approach, their sales have been growing significantly. They just reported a 78.8 percent growth rate over the same quarter in 2007. And this is during a huge market downturn. HP and Dell are reporting unit sales growth of 13.5 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively. Apple is just about flat.
If you are an enterprise CTO, what should you do with this information? For one, you should consider how to use laptops/netbooks like these in your organization. If done right, you can enhance the security of your enterprise by moving more of your data and applications to secure clouds, and you can also add security features to your netbooks and field a significant enhancement to your security posture. And, since the cost of these devices is far less than traditional laptops you can equip more of your workforce and save money at the same time, which is a very virtuous thing in this economic environment.
Note: I’ve previously written about several devices that qualify as netbooks, including:
Thin Client Laptops: Functionality, Security, Mobility A review of high end, enterprise quality wireless stateless thin clients using the Sun Microsystems approach;
and
The Future Is Changing Again A review of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative.
I also recommend a recent article at Economist.com called Small is Beautiful.
And, thanks to a friend on Twitter, I just got pointed to a post at GigaOm titled: Why Netbooks are Greener Than Laptops
Related posts:
Netbooks have certainly emerged on the scene as popular alternatives to conventional notebooks. I’m too addicted to my MacBook Pro to give one of these full time duty, but I’ll admit to owning an Asus EeePC and liking it. It is one of those devices that are small enough to be carried everywhere you go, without weighing you down.
I often bring the EeePC as a travel device as it is great to watch movies on the plane and then pull down email and read my feeds from the cafe Internet connection.
What I’d like to see is additional integrated EVDO and 3G connections that make these Internet anywhere devices so you don’t have to hunt for WiFi.
Matt,
Thanks for the comment and info. And I agree about EVDO and 3G. My hope is that Verizon continues to accelerate their upgrade to a 4G network so all these systems will be faster.
Cheers,
Bob
I like the whole concept of Netbooks, but I’m very worried about security issues with them. Perhaps you’ve seen this article at ComputerWorld on the topic yesterday? http://bit.ly/paTI
Here are a few of the concerns mentioned:
“reduced resources also limit their ability to run add-on security software, such as data encryption and anti-malware tools.”
Many, if not most, [ultraportables] are sold without Trusted Platform Modules because they are targeted at the consumer market,” says Rob Enderle, an analyst at Enderle Group in San Jose. “This means they either don’t have encryption solutions or the solutions aren’t that robust.”
“most ultraportables aren’t designed to be managed centrally and therefore can’t have their solid-state drives remotely wiped clean of data in the event of loss or theft.”
“Ultraportables’ wireless capabilities also make it easy for them to disgorge stored data to unauthorized parties. Ciabarra believes that Wi-Fi vulnerabilities are a potentially big problem. “Everywhere an ultraportable goes, it can be logging into networks and exposing its data,” he says. “The user often isn’t even aware this is happening.”
I love the concept, Bob, but for secure Enterprise computing? I think that’s a niche that’s still waiting to be filled with something akin to a Netbook “Toughbook”.
Jeffrey, thanks, those are very very good questions and that was a great article at ComputerWorld. One thing for sure, security always needs to be engineered in at the beginning. I guess I need to find a place that can independently evaluate the security of these netbooks and give us assessments on which are secure out of the box. Of course, that term secure is a relative concept, so we need details of how they stack up with the current very ugly very vulnerable systems fielded with other architectures. I’ll keep looking into that and will report here when I find out more data.
Bob, netbooks are definitely an “at last” disruptive innovation. But I think that it’s really a reflection of where we’ve come as tech user: we realize that we can get 90% of what we need done using a lower-powered machine. Why, indeed, should we pay 3-4 times the price when all that extra computing power is only used occasionally?
That said, there are people, tasks, and times for which a netbook simply won’t work. I love my new Dell Inspire Mini, but I wouldn’t consider using it as a full-time (primary) machine. The keys are too small, the hard drive too small, and the processor too slow for “real” image and video editing. But…I can still do 90-95% of what I need on it. And it weighs almost nothing, so I’m much more likely to keep it on me for short trips.
I guess the MacBook Air counts as being somewhere in between a netbook and a full-fledged laptop. I have run two of them, one as a corporate machine and one as a machine for my wife’s travel writing business. I am a fan, but, that said, we haven’t reached nirvana yet. Some observations from both the corporate and the home office side:
Not a big deal, but the same would be true for Linux netbooks. Which brings us to:
Thanks Ian, I really like that context. I’m still personally torn about netbooks, we were just looking at them a couple days ago and are really close to buying. But as you mention, the Air is pretty cool, and for many functions the Blackberry is just great. Your background and context will help me sort out my personal decisions and are most appreciated.
Bob