Netbook maker reduces shipments due to success of Apple's iPad - Page 2

I think netbooks are OK for ultra portable computers. I have seen and worked with couple and they did all the usual tasks fine. Features like native DivX/XviD playback, big HDD, capability to copy photos/videos from camera etc, in my eyes, puts them in completely different category from iPad and Android tablets.

I don't even think competition from iPad is hurting them. There is natural saturation of that market segment - when you look at typical netbooks, they haven't changed much once they evolved from 7 to 10" and from Celeron to Atom... which is reducing reasons for netbook upgrade/replacement to virtually ZERO. Plus, more and more brands are coming out with their offerings - I have recently seen Viewsonic netbooks, for example.

Additionally, part of netbook market is shifting to ULV market. ULV Core 2 duo netbooks, while more expensive and bigger (11 - 13" usually) are actually the only upgrade alternative for people who need to replace their netbooks for something stronger yet still highly portable.

And finally - I think Asus is coming out with a couple of tablets for this holiday's season? Others will follow. Dell Streak is already out and, according to Anandtech.com, screen size is just about right, Android 1.6 being major if not the only let-down for this device (which Froyo update should sort out nicely).

Bottom line - really big number of reasons for netbook market to slow down, iPad maybe being one of them but hardly the one. However, this is Apple Insider - so this reasoning is sort of understandable

Over 10 million sold in 2010. I've been claiming it since the day it was released.

I just recently sold my MBP due to the fact that it had been sitting on a desk, plugged in, and unused ever since I unboxed my iPad. I take my iPad with me everywhere I go. It is practically none existent compared to the MBP. I pull it out and use it in places where a laptop would be awkward. It is a 3G version, so I always have an internet connection, unlike the MBP. In short, I use it for almost everything I used a notebook for, and more. Not once have I missed my notebook.

It is important to note that I have a 27" iMac for home use, so the iPad is not a primary computer replacement, but it makes an unbelievable secondary computer. Having the right expectations for it is the key to getting the most enjoyment out of it. What expectations should one have? Watching the keynote introducing it is a good start. The iPad mostly fails at things it was never intended to be, but succeeds fabulously at what it is.

Absolutely not but the haters would have you believe so.

so Asus is just a netbook maker?

lol

ipad is competition for motherboards? must be why those sales are down for one company

crappy PC's... thats so new... the fall of netbooks makes sense, most people do not work on them, and they are not good for much besides being portable. This leads to choosing Intel's Atom over AMD's athlon-neo's and V class chips, as it lower battery life, for more preformance (though they cost more)

for me the fall of netbooks is a bad thing because it means there will be few cheap newbooks that can run games that are a few years fluently (which means they can do most task quickly).

also, when Apple lowers its product margin of the Ipad to lets say 20% maybe i would buy one, i don't believe that it costs under $300 to make and ship like most people says, but after selling over 3.5 million, i would think some of the design costs (a large part of which was making an itouch larger...)_ have been covered and that its time to stop making $150 of each one.

i lol whenever some complains about profit margin's in anything involving Apple.

I've had a netbook for about 2 years, and it has its advantages and drawbacks.

They're good for portability, and being able to do some e-mail, web, dump pictures when traveling light - I can do edits of RAW files in Picasa fairly well with it, and then upload them, so I can share them with family.

I could probably do some of that with an iPad, but it would be more expensive, I would have to buy a separate SD/USB adapter, I wouldn't be able to edit RAW files, next to no storage space, and it's hard to say how easy it would be able to upload a batch of photos, to either Picasa or Skydrive.

The problem with most netbooks, is that there's nothing to differentiate them, and they're getting squeezed from the low-end laptops...$350 for a bog standard netbook, with an Intel N450, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB HD, vs a dual-core Pentium or AMD, with 4 GB RAM and 250 GB HD for $400. Someone else brought up the growing line of ULV laptops, and I can see that too.

No surprise here. The writing was on the wall in January.

In a nut shell I think that is why iPad is successful and netbooks have a hardtime in the market. People expect to run a netbook like a laptop and with Windows 7 that leaves a lot to be desired.

Interestingly this is in part Apples arguement for AIR and the Mac Books. A good experience requires a certain level of performance for a given OS revision and apps.

The other thing with iPad is that it is only a rev one device. I'm actually expecting a major overhaul of the guts for next year.

Dave

What's multimedia, precious??

I agree with you. I know there will be a refresh every year and know most of Apple's refresh schedule. However, the average person does not and many who ran out to buy an iPad I think will be a bit upset when v2 comes out with a webcam and more. They are possibly expecting Kindle type upgrades where it's nothing major. I was in Costco a few weeks ago and saw a couple looking at iPods, I told 'em to consider waiting cuz new iPods will be out in September. They had no idea that new iPods were coming out soon. The avg consumer has no idea of Apple's or any tech companies doings or roll outs.

For me too!!!!

One more thing I missed.: show me application on iPad that can play internet TV. Yes we have some grey market pages that allow watching TV even from other continents. I need to watch TV from my home country and from Europe even if I have intersting slew of sitcoms, teenager show series, comedy series here in the USA. Honestly i am too old for US coach potato offerings on TV and I need to see for example foreign news and foreign sports events (I do not like baseball and golf at all).

On netbook I install all needed plugins for some browser and I can watch streaming content. Can I do this on iPad or iPhone unless these are "Apple mandated" formats? I do not think so.

Count me in on iPad bandwagon as soon as Apple stops being hardheaded on flash and other media formats and encoders/decoders and allows other mobile networks. Even if HTML5 is way to go I do not see reason why I would resign from watching everything else now.

What optimization do you want for which functions?

Most of them will display widescreen movies and TV shows and output 5.1 audio. The iPad is mono with a 4x3 screen.

Nothing is more better than waking up in the morning and checking out the news on my iPad while still in bed. And playing a game or some more reading before I retire.

If it weren't for Microsoft's strict OEM contract, I bet all netbooks would still have some Linux-based operating systems on them instead. I can think of that as being the only reason why they're considered "slow" and not that much different from normal laptops. Windows 7 is just not designed for those types of computers.

As for the iPad, I sold it. Waay to dependent on iTunes for my taste; after having my MacBook's keyboard just suddenly die. I'm sorry. Getting a netbook... :|

You can try CineXPlayer and OPlayerHD apps for XVID, etc. etc. including http and rtsp streaming or something like that. YMMV, but there is some progress on that front.

Nope, The reason netbooks don't still have Linux on them is because people kept returning them for refunds. People couldn't figure out what to do with the alien OS, and Linux netbooks were not compatible with anything. WXP was the only other OS that would run on those underpowered, cheep notebooks, and that is what people were comfortable with. It had nothing to do with strict OEM contracts.

Actually, it was because of MS strict OEM contracts that allowed Linux to get a seemingly large foothold on netbooks in the first place. Remember that Vista was selling when these devices emerged. It was because MS opened up WinXP to be shipped on these machines that MS regained its ground.

Then there are reports of people returning the Linux-based netbooks. Ive used more than a few than theyve all sucked. These are not for the average consumer looking for a small, simple machine. Sure, Linux is more efficient so it would feel faster than Windows but were still talking about an OS and GUI that is not intuitive and still not designed for a 10 display.

I returned my iPad, too, but its a much better machine than any netbook Ive owned from the display panel type, the aspect ratio, the relative performance, the focus on core apps and the UI that is tailored for the device, not shoehorned in.

A little more research reveals that the "very high rate of return" meme comes from stats from just one manufacturer, MSI, because they advertised the price difference boldly but failed to explain that those machines were running an OS that was very different from Windows.

Smarter companies see a very different trend:


http://netbookboards.com/2009/02/24/...-less-than-xp/

As for the netbook market overall, it's true that the rate of growth is smaller than it was last year when growth in that segment was so often described as explosive, but note that sales are still growing year over year:


http://news.softpedia.com/news/Netbo...0-151301.shtml


Meanwhile, Microsoft is not without its netbook issues:

Why Windows 7 on Netbooks Wont Save Microsoft
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2009/0...ave-microsoft/


Still, anyone enjoying a Microsoft OS on a netbook can thank Linux: before netbooks started shipping with Linux, Microsoft's OEM pricing was more than twice what is it now.

Welcome to Ghandicon 3.

Good for you.

I feel no pain with true 3g unlimited broadband for $30/mo.

Amen.

Everyone I know that bought an iPad absolutely loves it, save for myself as I returned it due to a still present Safari bug that interferes with my usage patterns.

I think Mesomophican is one of those people that thinks if they don't have the latest product theres is obsolete. We can say the iPad 3 will be more powerful and have more features than the iPad 2. That's product evolution so I don't understand his point as their seem to be millions loving their current iPads.

Surprisingly, my mother only reads books from her iPad now. I really didn't expect her to adopt to an electronic reader after so many decades of reading bound books.

Surprised how well the apple case works with the iPad.
I also used the zipper pouch that came with my Eeepc netbook for added protection as well as the micro cloth which is perfect for cleaning the screen.

Sol, you must tell us more of this Safari bug that interferes with what usage pattern. I, for one, dumped Safari as soon as Atomic Web Browser came out. I, then, dumped that for Perfect Browser. There are many good options for iPad browsers. Do tell.

Yes he is in that vicious cycle. I've never used the cam in the netbook and Studio XPS that I have.
Only used 7g of the 64g of memory so far and no problems at all with memory on the iPad so at first I wasn't sure what he was talking about.

I also think Mesomorphican is the one feeling the pain or else he would not have wrote that.
Hope he feels better now.

Saying that he bought a slightly used 3G iPad half price would make more sense.

I'm still not buying into the whole iPads and netbooks are equivalent, competing products meme.