Print
Conceptualizing a netbook seems pretty easy--just think of a laptop, only smaller. Smaller, however, imposes problems. First, there’s the smaller screen, which reduces the space for visualization--you can’t see as much on a netbook as you can on a laptop. Second, a smaller form factor requires hardware trade-offs, not the least of which is a subdued CPU that takes up less space, gives off less heat, and uses less power. The result is not a smaller laptop, but a device that has to be confronted on its own terms.
Netbook owners, for the most part, realize this. They wish it were different, but wishing doesn’t get the cows fed. It also doesn’t get much work done, as software for netbooks, be it Windows or Linux based, is designed for something larger and more powerful. Intel is perhaps the first to acknowledge the special niche of the netbook, and is supporting it with a developer program for the Atom processor, and an AppUp Center, which will provide apps specifically designed for netbooks.
Blasphemous as this may seem to purists, it’s actually a smart move, from a marketing standpoint. Netbooks, if they are to become, as some predict, the dominate PC platform, then they have to get into a lot of hands. That won’t happen, however, if they are perceived as under-powered cousins to laptops. Instead, the market has to change the perception of the netbook, making it a useful computing tool in its own right. Having apps specifically designed for this environment, and relevant to the things netbook users want to do, is a step in that direction.
Intel will showcase its new found love for the netbook market at next week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. In the meantime, a beta version of the AppUp Center is up and running, as is the Atom Developer Program.
Image Credit: Intel
Comments are closed on this article
