Born as a niche phenomenon, the global recession has given the netbook an incredible boost. Generally cheaper, smaller and less powerful than a notebook computer, netbooks have been widely purchased by young Internet users and others interested in a lightweight secondary computing device. About 13 million netbooks were sold worldwide in 2008, with 10 million of those sales coming in the second half of the year, noted Cristiano Laux, manager of Consulting at Pyramid Research.
“Bundles of these machines with Internet access are set to become a bread-and-butter offering for operators in developed and emerging markets alike, exceeding sales of notebook computers in the operator channel by 2010,” said Laux. Pyramid Research believes that manufacturers and broadband operators should do what they can to support netbook sales, because there’s profit to be made.
“There is growing evidence that netbooks are catching on with the under-21 crowd; if that trend develops, the adoption rate for netbooks could accelerate even more, which means these cheap and approachable devices could have a huge impact on how network operators make money off their services,” explained Laux.
Netbooks will also help accelerate mobile broadband adoption among low-income customers and in emerging markets. In the lower-income countries, including those in the Middle East, most of the incremental impact from netbook sales will be seen only when the price of mobile PCs declines below $350. This is expected to happen in late 2009, with mass-market shipments picking up during 2010.
Some companies are well positioned to capitalize on increasing netbook sales. Netbooks represent a fully strategic category of products that complete Acer’s mobility products.
Since it first introduced netbooks into its product portfolio, Acer has concentrated on every detail of the netbook, from design to personalized interface and diversification of connection options. These combined elements have allowed Acer’s Aspire One to be the most sold netbook on the market.
Recently the company introduced the 11.6” Aspire One equipped with an Intel Atom processor and Mobile Intel US15W Express Chipset. Notwithstanding the small size, the 11.6” Aspire One features a 160 GB internal hard drive and a multi-in-one card reader. It retails for $380.
But now there’s competition for the small, affordable netbook concept. This week, Lenovo launched its IdeaPad U350 which it is promoting as able to deliver full PC functionality in a light, affordable form factor.
The U350 weighs about 3.5 pounds and includes a 13.3-inch screen. It runs Microsoft Windows Vista – not XP like the Aspire One, and its base price is $649. The laptop is powered by an Intel Pentium SU2700 processor, which runs at 1.3GHz and includes 2MB of cache. The U350 comes with 2GB of RAM and can support up to a 500GB hard drive.
The U350 won’t impact netbook sales for extremely cost conscious consumers, but those who can afford to pay a little extra will most certainly be attracted to the more powerful capabilities of Lenovo’s challenger.