Comments on: Netbook sales will soar to 22 million in 2009 – IDC

By: Doug, Bridgewater, NJ

Doug, Bridgewater, NJ — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:19:44 +0000

This market is still in flux. In the coming year you will see a number of 8 to 10 inch netbooks with 12 to 15 hours of run time hit the market. Most will have 3G as well as WiFi built in. Light, small, portable, ubiquitous networking, long battery life. It is an evolving situation and it will be a game changer.

I don't want to carry a 17" laptop and its power adapter around.

By: Otis in Va

Otis in Va — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:51:36 +0000

Look…Netbooks are here to stay..They satisfy the basic needs of price concious consumers. Apple does not have to satisfy this market with low price. Apple is quality driven and attract consumers regardless. As I have learned from owning desktop and laptop PC's, Iphone and itouch, the major driver is operating system, features, and software. We know where Apple stands in reference to this.

By: Steve Kostelec, Shelbyville, MI

Steve Kostelec, Shelbyville, MI — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:09:37 +0000

Regarding my previous post…..Netbook is an Acer not an Asus….sorry for the confusion.

Frodoone

By: Steve Kostelec, Shelbyville MI

Steve Kostelec, Shelbyville MI — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:02:25 +0000

I own an Asus netbook and an Apple MacBook Pro. The Apple has 2 USB ports, the Asus 3. The Apple has both wireless and Ethernet connectivity and so does the Asus. The Apple has a 160ghz hard drive and so does the Asus. The Apple has a built-in webcam and so does the Asus. The Apple's chip is a 2.4 ghz and the Asus is a 1.6 but that is really a non-factor unless you are into games or high end calculations and graphics.

Cost of the MacBook = $2,800.

Cost of the Asus = $ 299.

Oh yeah, about repair?

The MacBook is 18 mos. old and I had to replace the video chip, motherboard, and one stick of ram. (Fortunately, Apple paid for it.)

I don't know where the underpowered "piece of junk" idea came from but I find it not to be true. I dearly love BOTH machines and wouldn't trade either of them. They are very different but they both serve a purpose.

Frodoone

By: Aditya, Austin, TX

Aditya, Austin, TX — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:49:59 +0000

Market share is irrelevant to this discussion. The thing that matters is the profit made per unit. If apple were to make a netbook and pocket 25 for each netbook versus making a macbook pro and make 250 for each unit, it would have to sell 10 times as many netbooks.

Apple's business model is built around selling high price items. Thats a niche that is interesting & profitable.

A company doesn't have to be everything to everyone.

By: Steven, Atlanta GA

Steven, Atlanta GA — Tue, 05 May 2009 04:39:52 +0000

Phillip,

Apparently you are not privy to the dominant mindshare position which Apple holds in the college market. Parents who can possibly afford a Mac will make supreme sacrifices to purchase one rather than incur the wrath of a child faced with the embarrassing prospect of having the only piece of crap Asus in a lecture hall full of MacBooks.

I could be wrong, but Apple prides itself on avoiding knee-jerk reactions to market conditions. I doubt very seriously that we will see any truly sharp drop in MacBook prices – perhaps a token fifty bucks or so. Any huge drop in MacBook prices will greatly constrict their operating space with respect to pricing the new device they’ll be introducing soon, which I believe will be somewhere between the current MacBook and Mac Mini price points.

By: KenC, Gardiner, Maine

KenC, Gardiner, Maine — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:41:36 +0000

Look a 22M unit market is still TINY! The smartphone market is over 100M units. Apple sold 13M iPhones last year. Apple sold alot of iPod touches last year. I'd say, iPhones and touches probably exceeded 20M last year. That's just Apple's share. Compared to the WHOLE netbook market, I'm not so sure there's a compelling market there.

And, the nascent netbook market is not pressuring Apple to do anything.

Apple is working on their own time table. They have a plan, regardless of what is happening with netbooks. Like the iPod, there are other iterations of iPhone. It's a no-brainer. It's coming, it'll be different. It'll be a "duh" product, like "duh", why didn't we think of that?

By: Doug from Allentown, PA

Doug from Allentown, PA — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:20:50 +0000

Brian wrote:

"…How do you know it was not in lieu of a laptop? It appears that is is exactly what happened–look at the PC sales figures. Regarding students, most are going to laptop full time…"

Relax fan-boy. I am sure that netbook sales are indeed taking PC sales as well. I am also sure that most students are indeed choosing full featured laptops.

This doesn't change the fact that people (not students probably) are indeed buing an awful lot of netbooks. Read this article quote carefully:

"Netbooks, which sell for s little as $300 to $350, are typically used by students for note-taking or as light-weight secondary computers in situations where all one needs is a keyboard and a wireless Internet connection"

Note the quote above does not say that only students are buying secondary computers. It can be logically taken as follows:

"..by students for note-taking or by anyone else (student or not) as light-weight…"

It is in this context, by non-students and for a second computer, that Apple is going to have to do something to compete.

Again, I am not saying Apple can't compete here. I am merely saying, as is this article, that they are currently not doing so.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:43:18 +0000

"You totally missed the point. Apparently, someone wants second computers because netbook sates are up seven fold year over year. The point is that Apple does not have a product in this space."

How do you know it was not in lieu of a laptop? It appears that is is exactly what happened–look at the PC sales figures. Regarding students, most are going to laptop full time. Netbooks simply won't fill the bill there for a lot of students who actually need a full featured computer. I certainly would not send a student to college with one, unless it was a clown college.

By: Doug from Allentown, PA

Doug from Allentown, PA — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:33:22 +0000

Brian wrote:

"Your article is filled with a lot of assumptions, For instance, that students want TWO computers…"

You totally missed the point. Apparently, someone wants second computers because netbook sates are up seven fold year over year. The point is that Apple does not have a product in this space.

Ashley Grayson wrote:

"The current vendors are doing an adequate job providing only slightly uncomfortable email and “squint at the internet through a keyhole” browsing…"

If a netbook is like browsing the web through a keyhole, what is an iPhone?

People want this. They really do. That's why netbook sales are up so much.

All you Apple fan-boys suck it up and admin that this is an area that Apple is not in yet. No one said that they can't be in it. They just arent.