blackberry-stormMobile technology has taken two interesting turns in the last few years. Cellphones, PDAs, and computers have started to merge so that today’s smartphones allow you to surf the web, send email, and oh yeah, make phone calls and send text messages. Over the last year cheap computers called netbooks (or mini-laptops, or something) with full sized keyboards and reasonably large screens have also appeared which provide a more full fledged internet experience on the go.

If you ask me, smartphones and netbooks serve two different purposes. A smartphone fits in your pocket and provides a stripped down internet experience. A netbook may be too big for your pocket, but since most netbooks weigh less than 3 pounds you can easily throw one in your bag and carry it with you for those times when you need to do some work on a nearly full-sized QWERTY keyboard on the go, or when you want to view web pages, videos, or other content on a roomier 7, 9, or 10 inch display. Heck, you can even make VoIP phone calls  using Skype if you really want to, but I wouldn’t really expect a netbook to replace a good cellphone.

RIM founder Mike Lazaridis, on the other hand, seems to think that a smartphone can be a replacement for a netbook. In an interview with CNET Asia, Lazaridis said he’s not worried about competition from netbooks because the new BlackBerry Storm is a netbook. Umm… OK.

I can understand why he might say that. The Storm does provide a mobile internet experience, and no CEO wants to say “yes, I’m afraid of the competition from other devices that offer more features.” But a better answer might have been “no, because netbooks don’t fit in your pocket and don’t feature always-on technology like a phone. They serve a different market than smartphones like the Storm.” But maybe that’s just me.

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,547 other subscribers

5 replies on “Blackberry founder: The Storm is a netbook”

  1. For me, personally see them both as MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices), but I don’t think the two can converge into the category known as Netbooks for one sole reason: It doesn’t fold; I mean, shouldn’t a net’book’ be able to fold open like an actual book?

    But as opposed to you, If they meet that requirement, and it fits in your pocket (certainly impractical, for it’ll be like a sony mylo that folds open instead of slides), I would still be oblidged to call it a netbook.

  2. I think he’s a-scared because eeePCs cost less than fancy cellphones. At least, that’s the case for me.

  3. Brad, your reasoning makes sense to me. Whatever that counts for. 😉

    But look at the small end of the Net-Book range of machines
    (note ‘-‘, that is not trademarked), the Pandora.

    The difference (in size, weight, resources) between the Pandora and
    a large Smartphone (trademark search required there) is not a lot.
    Still a stretch, but they are getting close to merging.

Comments are closed.