We’re just starting to see American telecoms like AT&T and Verizon begin bundling netbooks with 3G wireless data plans. But DigiTimes reports that Acer, Asus, and BenQ are selling a growing number of netbooks in Taiwan this way. The companies are partnering with local wireless providers including Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, and Far EasTone Telecommunications.
In related news, more than half of all notebooks sold in Taiwan in July were netbooks. So yeah, I’m going to let that sink in for a while before saying anything about how some folks label the entire netbook category as a fad.
Yup, these small, light, low cost, less than carry-around supercomputers are a fad.
So where Hula Hoops and IBM-PC desktop machines.
With product model, on-the-shelf lifetimes of a fruit fly –
No one can say that the manufacturers aren’t trying to find the “magic” combination
of features for a market that didn’t exist less than two years ago.
Which example fad will these products follow – – My thought: Too soon to say.
The model-churn of the early cell phone and PDA markets is slowing down,
the manufacturers are beginning to find the feature combinations that “work”.
But that has been going on for almost two decades, not two years.
You know what the people who think netbooks are a fad also has their own predjustices. You might think the al might dollar sobers people business opinions…but its doesn’t. Executives hold all sorts of crazy opinions ‘just because’.
And then there is the concept that not every market is for all companies to ‘like’ or see as worthwhile. But if you’re making computers for home use, then netbooks are in your purview unless you are a high end gaming PC maker. There is no reason for any of the major brands to be out of netbook market, they just have to get around the idea of bulk sales.
They have to view profits in volumes of a million units, not in selling tens of thousands. Only when they can say, “Oh we made $25…awesome….because that is $20 x 997,996 units. That worked out A LOT better then selling 76,370 unit with a profit of $175.”
this is a great news. probably marriage of mobile + netbook is the close future. I like that with 4G )