Knowledge@Wharton on the Net Impact of Netbooks

I came across this excellent article over at Knowledge@Wharton entitled “The Net Impact of Netbooks? It Depends on Who Uses Them for What”. The article attempts to outline what the possible effects netbooks will have on the hardware, software, and upcoming cloud computing industries.

“Analysts and experts at Wharton agree that netbooks will be disruptive to the PC industry, but it’s not clear in what way.”

From a hardware standpoint, it might be too early to tell if netbooks will actually disrupt the existing computer market or if it will simply complement the market by allowing customers to buy cheaper secondary or tertiary PCs.

However, netbooks do pose a problem for Microsoft on the software front. Microsoft receives less revenues from netbooks AND they’re forced to see the continued proliferation of Windows XP instead of Windows Vista (and hence the importance of making Windows 7 run well on a netbook platform).

Interestingly enough, cloud computing could potentially receive a boost from the popularity of netbooks. Netbooks are computing and storage limited and thus it makes sense to try and leverage the power and storage space of cloud computing. Netbook users could run Internet based applications and offload major processing tasks to the cloud. They could also leverage the vast amounts of disk space that are made available online. In fact, according to the article “Technology companies are already pitching online storage services bundled with netbooks. For example, Dell bundles online storage from Box.net with its miniature computing devices.”

The article ends with the following:

“One thing is certain: The netbook category is worth watching because it is growing and evolving on the fly. What is defined as a netbook today may be completely different in a couple of years, say experts at Wharton. Asks Clemons: “Are these devices stripped down computers or phones on steroids?””

You can read the entire article here.

Written by flung

November 26th, 2008 at 2:53 pm

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Posted in Netbook News, Netbooks

Tagged with Impact of netbooks, Knowledge@Wharton

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Florida Personal Injury Lawyer 6 months ago 1 point
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From a hardware standpoint, it might be too early to tell if netbooks will actually disrupt the existing computer market or if it will simply complement the market by allowing customers to buy cheaper secondary or tertiary PCs.

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psikeyhackr 1 year ago 1 point
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{{{ Interestingly enough, cloud computing could potentially receive a boost from the popularity of netbooks. Netbooks are computing and storage limited and thus it makes sense to try and leverage the power and storage space of cloud computing. }}}

That is nonsense. CLOUD COMPUTING is merely an attempt for some people to try to create an income stream for themselves. In 1999 a high end desktop machine might have 18 gig of storage and do 700 mhz. These netbooks commonly have 160 gig of storage, a gig of ram and do 1.6 ghz. An hour of video can be less than 300 meg so 60 hours of video is no strain for a netbook. Why go to a lecture in a classroom? Download it and watch it anywhere. Watch it multiple times without the distraction of taking notes.

Netbooks can change society depending on what people decide to do with them. The computer industry is going to tell people to do things that help the computer industry make money. But is that what will do the netbook owner the most good?

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Stephen Ingraham 1 year ago 1 point
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I have my own take on this on my Cloudy Days and Netbook Nights blog.
http://cdnn.wordpress.com/2008/11/22/netbooks-too-good-for-their-own-good/

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