Netbook Industry Shutting Down After Being Squeezed by iPad and MacBook Air

[samcraig]

Apple didn't invent the thin laptop, didn't even beat anyone to the punch on having the thinnest laptop around. They just made a really, really nice thin laptop that worked well and everyone wanted.

I had to chuckle during the last keynote for the iPhone 5 when Tim and others kept referring it to the thinnest PHONE in the world. Someone backstage must have googled it for them during the keynote because near the end they stopped referring to it that way and instead (and on their website) referred to it as the thinnest iPHONE yet..

Apple does the shine and polish very very well.

 

[sexiewasd]

Netbooks are dead because they were crap devices that were only ever popular because of the price point. When you can get a Nexus 7 for the same price very few people are going to choose the netbook (or chromebook) over the tablet.

 

[edenwaith]

I saw those dreadful little things come about, and I wonder why anyone aside from kids would buy those things. They were horrid.

My sister-in-law bought a netbook a few years ago, but the only person I've seen ever use the thing is my young nephew. So, perhaps the tiny keyboards suit the under 10 category.

This reminds me that the original iMac hockey puck mouse also well suited for the hands of a 2-year old. Not so much for an adult's hands, though.

 

[Eidorian]

In the end, some folks just say the Apple version first and since Apple is usually louder about what they do than others, many on these forums just lived in a hole until Apple fed them something, like the MBA.

Then they see other models and call them knock offs or vaporware, when in fact they were reasonably successful models from companies that've been building them for years.

I took my Nexus 7 along with me to the New Year's party I attended and with internet access it greatly helped our conversations given its large, bright screen and programs. People love it when you can bring up Google Maps/Street View within seconds, do a voice search in a crowded room, or have Wikipedia at the ready. Everyone thought it was the iPad Mini, everyone. I could have easily convinced them it was an iPad mini just as well. They would have been none the wiser.

 

[iphoneclassic]

ASUS Zenbook resembles MBA the most, more so than Samsung products which are slapped with sanctions. Somehow ASUS gets a pass...

Asus is leader is laptop/tablet design. Most of the laptops(all brands with the exception of Apple) are designed by Asus. The concept of netbook is from Asus. Tablet with detachable keyboard design is from Asus.

Asus makes money from all brands through out the world, they don't need to brag about it.

 

[HenryDJP]

Remember when analysts kept wanting Apple to make a Netbook and Steve Jobs was like "We don't know how to make one that's not a piece of junk."

Steve called it.

Isn't that the truth??? Don't ya love it when haters talk down about SJ's decisions on making products he KNOWS people want? Although I can't say that I saw this coming so fast because the PC industry and it's customers try hard to defy anything Apple does to shake up the industry but when Ultrabooks hit the industry I knew this Jobs was spot on about Netbooks dying a quick death.

 

[2298754]

Asus is leader is laptop/tablet design. Most of the laptops(all brands with the exception of Apple) are designed by Asus. The concept of netbook is from Asus. Tablet with detachable keyboard design is from Asus.

Asus makes money from all brands through out the world, they don't need to brag about it.

Asus doesn't design laptops for everyone. They merely used to make the laptops before they started to make their own Asus branded products and sell them at big box stores.

Yes, the netbooks, I think, were Asus' idea.

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And i'm not shocked. Netbooks blow. Complete crap. I called this when they first came out. Nothing can be done well on them.

Apple didn't invent the super thin laptop with the MBA, but they sure as hell made it popular. Without them, there would be no ultrabook. After the MBA, we got basically identical looking Lenovos, Sammys, HPs, etc.

 

[Digital Skunk]

Pretty much. I think a lot of people here got in on the computer/mobile scene only recently through Apple products, then from that point on only tended to listen to Apple based tech news.

I guess when you live in a bubble, listening to a community that's literally obsessed with the idea that their favorite companies does everything first...well...look around. What you're seeing is the end result.

Now I know at some point someone is going to come in and start screaming "APPLE HATER OLOL", and you know...I'm not. I just recognize what Apple actually is. They're rarely ever inventors. I don't think I've seen anything come out of Apple that was completely unprecedented. What they are, what they do best, is polish and shine. They'll take something else someone has done and make it sleek, stylish, and easy to use. That's Apple's bread and butter right there.

Apple didn't invent the thin laptop, didn't even beat anyone to the punch on having the thinnest laptop around. They just made a really, really nice thin laptop that worked well and everyone wanted.

I would even beg to differ that it worked well. The first MBA looked really good, and that's was about it. Now, on the fourth revision, we are getting a machine that is totally functional and worth buying. And that's due in part to Intel and component makers.

I agree about the innovation part, even the iPhone, which I tell people on the regular I loved until Android really finally surpassed it, wasn't breakthrough in anyway save for the joining together of those 5 key features in a package that was actually useable. My Treo 650 did more overall, and did some things better.

Even much of the "enhancements" we've found in version of Mac OS 10.5 and up were from OS 9.2 that never made it over to 10, and from a lot of Ubuntu/Suse/Fedora/Open Source devs updates and modifications.

Netbooks are dead because they were crap devices that were only ever popular because of the price point. When you can get a Nexus 7 for the same price very few people are going to choose the netbook (or chromebook) over the tablet.

This whole iPad beat the netbook thing is still total garbage. The ONLY thing that killed the netbook was the cheaper, faster, more capable PC laptop that was made available a year after netbooks really caught on.

I agree about the tablet over the netbook, but the Chromebook is definitely far superior to any keyboard less, 7" or 9" screen tablet. That is, if you are a Google, webapps, cloud computing type of person.

I took my Nexus 7 along with me to the New Year's party I attended and with internet access it greatly helped our conversations given its large, bright screen and programs. People love it when you can bring up Google Maps/Street View within seconds, do a voice search in a crowded room, or have Wikipedia at the ready. Everyone thought it was the iPad Mini, everyone. I could have easily convinced them it was an iPad mini just as well. They would have been none the wiser.

Nice to hear, and what Google had done with their ecosystem and Android is really a testimony to the idea (and reality) of cloud computing. There were some users on the Corning Gorilla Glass thread, that say the ape is holding an iPad . . . . I mean:

"Good to see that Gorilla holding an iPad instead of some S*** Android tablet!!!!!!1!!!!!"

When anyone with 5/3 vision could see that it was a Nexus 10.

 

[JackieTreehorn]

Image

Half the price and double the power of an iPad, that's what

Ah, yes: the repetitive 'higher specs and lower price' marketing from Dell, HP, Samsung, Google, Microsoft, et al when they cannot compete on usability, innovation, and security.

No thanks - been fooled before by that type of marketing from those types of companies.

 

[HenryDJP]

I took my Nexus 7 along with me to the New Year's party I attended and with internet access it greatly helped our conversations given its large, bright screen and programs. People love it when you can bring up Google Maps/Street View within seconds, do a voice search in a crowded room, or have Wikipedia at the ready. Everyone thought it was the iPad Mini, everyone. I could have easily convinced them it was an iPad mini just as well. They would have been none the wiser.

Couldn't have been that much fun of a new years eve party if you bring along your Nexus 7 and look for a Wifi signal and drum up conversations. What ever happened to humans communicating on their own merit? Now devices are required to bring a party to get people talking.

At the end of the day, the name of the game is "sales", and if people thought you had an iPad Mini that just means that all other competitors will either have to work much harder to bring their name out there attached to the product or their tablets will be dying a fast death like the Netbook.

 

[NightFlight]

Not just netbook, Ultrabook line will be dead soon. No one wants to pay over 1k for Windows notebook.

You are kidding, right?

They are selling, and selling well. You must not travel much.

Sony was first to release a product in the category. The Vaio X505 is the MacBook Air's grand daddy.

Thanks for point out the facts. So many people don't even care to know on this forum. Apple has to be the very first at EVERYTHING.

Again folks, the actual history starts with Sony. The original MBA was simply Apple's version of the Sony Vaio X505.

Thanks again.

This is what Apple will do to Android.

How? Android is growing at an alarming rate, and not because it is cheap. Look at how many SGS3 and GN devices have been sold. They aren't cheap, and they are selling millions upon millions of devices.

If you honestly think this, you are delusional.

 

[0dev]

Ah, yes: the repetitive 'higher specs and lower price' marketing from Dell, HP, Samsung, Google, Microsoft, et al when they cannot compete on usability, innovation, and security.

No thanks - been fooled before by that type of marketing from those types of companies.

The quality of the product is the same as the iPad, the back just isn't made of metal. I think putting that much power into such a small cheap device takes a lot of innovation. As for usability and security, Android is brilliant at both.

 

[HenryDJP]

Thanks for point out the facts. So many people don't even care to know on this forum. Apple has to be the very first at EVERYTHING.

I don't ever recall Apple ever saying (especially during the keynote) that the Macbook Air was the first of it's kind. Yes it's true that Sony brought out the X505 but what happened? Sure the industry already had "tablet" computers before the iPad but what happened? Sure there were smartphones before the iPhone but what happened? Sure there were ways to buy music online before iTunes but what happened?

You're giving credit to losers.

If a company can come out with a product that puts the finishing touches on a dying/dead product and get the consumer market to actually buy and love it then that's innovation. You have to accept it rather than defy it.

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As for usability and security, Android is brilliant at both.

Had a bit of throw up in my mouth.....oh you weren't serious. Gotcha.

 

[Renzatic]

You're giving credit to losers.

No, you're giving credit to those who came first. And just because they didn't sell as much as the MBAs doesn't make them losers. There are differing degrees of success.

By your logic, Apple is a huge loser, considering how much OSX is being outsold by Windows. I guess you're saying that success equals quality here, right?

If a company can come out with a product that puts the finishing touches on a dying/dead product and get the consumer market to actually buy and love it then that's innovation.

And no, that's marketing. Taking the same thing, repackaging it, and calling it revolutionary is practically the antithesis of innovation.

 

[EwanMcTeagle]

Gotta agree with you notjustjay. If it had been last year I probably would've been writing this from my Acer Aspire 1 - used it for 2 years when in college, I couldn't afford anything better than, so I worked with what I had.
- the keyboard was small, but still, I've written 80% of my essays and a writing for my bachelor's degree on it.
- the screen was small (9 or 10 inches if I recall), but I got used even to that.
- the most important things for me were the portability - ah, the hours spent in pubs and decent battery life.
It wasn't perfect, but it was useable. Sometimes better, sometimes worse.
If I hadn't come across Apple at my work last year I would probably still be breaking my fingers away on that thing - when I'd encountered Macbook Pro 13" I had the epiphany: "Now that's what I was looking for!"
But to the topic: as notjustjay said - the biggest problem with the netbooks was the OS (combined with poor power). Mine had an Atom and 512MB RAM and Windows XP (thank God it wasn't the "7"). It was doing great for some time, but then it started getting slower and slower and crashed basically everyday - and I can't count the times I've lost my work due to some system or software (Open Office) failure. So then it was time to move on and thankfully I could go "crazy" and buy a Macbook or else I would've probably moved onto to another Aspire 1...
PS. My mother, seeing the Aspire, liked the "netbook" concept - she has an (awful, just plain awful!) 14" Toshiba at home and she wanted a lighter computer for travel. As she can't carry heavy things she chose to get a netbook and got a Sony Vaio (the 10 or 12 inches version, I don't remember). It's been almost 2 years ago since she bought it and she haven't used that thing more than 8 times since. Everytime I visit her the Sony just sits on the same shelf - I took out the battery, cause I'm afraid it may rot any day now from not being used. I remember the sheer horror when I took that Sony out of the box - it has Windows 7 Basic installed - I think my old Amiga 1200 OS was probably snappier. Everything takes an eternity on that netbook - start up, to setting WiFi, to opening web browser... and the updates! Horrible.
Bottom line is my mom is still using her old Toshiba (at home) and a smartphone when she's travelling... She only takes the Vaio on long trips.

So yeah, Jobs was right. I mean the netbook concept wasn't all bad, but it clearly wasn't the best either

 

[HenryDJP]

No, you're giving credit to those who came first. And just because they didn't sell as much as the MBAs doesn't make them losers. There are differing degrees of success.

I think you either have reading comprehension issues or you wrote that wrong.
Uh, it's the person that I replied who was giving credit to those came first such as Sony and their X505. Re-read that please?
They didn't "sell as much"? They didn't sell, period. The X505 was a $3000 notebook that was more like a netbook with flimsy build quality, poor screen, very low specs and didn't even have a palm rest.

By your logic, Apple is a huge loser, considering how much OSX is being outsold by Windows. I guess you're saying that success equals quality here, right?

Not too hard to see who the Apple haters are on MR. Windows is not outselling OS X. It comes pre-installed on PC's from multiple manufacturers which are being distributed all over the world. Come back to me when you have actual numbers of average consumers buying only a Windows license against people buying OS X. Many people pirate Windows.

And no, that's marketing. Taking the same thing, repackaging it, and calling it revolutionary is practically the antithesis of innovation.

RIIIGHT, keep telling yourself that. And thanks for explaining why every smartphone after the iPhone suddenly is now having success.

The difference between Apple and the others is Apple takes a losing product and turns it into a winner. The others take a successful product and add fluff and it sells. Yeah it's pretty easy to be successful when you're building off a product the whole world already loves.

 

[Renzatic]

I would even beg to differ that it worked well. The first MBA looked really good, and that's was about it. Now, on the fourth revision, we are getting a machine that is totally functional and worth buying. And that's due in part to Intel and component makers.

Forgot about the whole fry your nuts if you set it in your lap feature of the first MBA.

Okay, I'll modify my statement with a "usually". No one has a perfect track record.

I agree about the innovation part, even the iPhone, which I tell people on the regular I loved until Android really finally surpassed it, wasn't breakthrough in anyway save for the joining together of those 5 key features in a package that was actually useable. My Treo 650 did more overall, and did some things better.

Yeah, the iPhone wasn't the first Smartphone by a long shot, and all the individual pieces everyone goes on and on about had been seen elsewhere. Multitouch? Big screen devices? Retina display? App stores? Icons in a grid? Apple wasn't the first with any of them.

But I will say that the iPhone defined what we now think of as a modern smartphone. Apple paid more attention to the pure usability of the device moreso than any other company before them. While none of it was truly "new", it was a best of all worlds device packaged into a slick little shell.

No matter which side of the fence you sit on, left, right, or middle, no one can deny that the iPhone was responsible for giving the mobile scene a huge kick in the ass.

This whole iPad beat the netbook thing is still total garbage. The ONLY thing that killed the netbook was the cheaper, faster, more capable PC laptop that was made available a year after netbooks really caught on.

There were a lot of reasons why the netbook died. I won't say the iPad did it specifically like some people are claiming, but it was one of the nails in the coffin.

 

[Renzatic]

I think you either have reading comprehension issues or you wrote that wrong.
Uh, it's the person that I replied who was giving credit to those came first such as Sony and their X505. Re-read that please?
They didn't "sell as much"? They didn't sell, period. The X505 was a $3000 notebook that was more like a netbook with flimsy build quality, poor screen, very low specs and didn't even have a palm rest.

Speaking of reading comprehension...

That wasn't what I was saying at all. When you said "giving credit to the losers", I said "No, you're giving credit to those that came first".

And how much did the X505 sell exactly? It was a $3000 laptop after all. I don't expect Sony believed they'd sell 50 million of them. It was a high end product for a select few.

Kinda like Macs, you know. Expensive, doesn't sell quite as much but still makes money. Which once again, going by your logic, must mean it's a failure.

Windows is not outselling OS X. It comes pre-installed on PC's from multiple manufacturers which are being distributed all over the world. Come back to me when you have actual numbers of average consumers buying only a Windows license against people buying OS X.

Microsoft doesn't just give away copies of Windows to the OEMs. When you buy a computer, you're buying a license for Windows.

Plus tons of people upgrade versions of Windows. It's fairly common knowledge that Win7 was the fastest selling product Amazon ever offered up to that point. Even outselling the latest Harry Potter books.

So yes. Windows does outsell OSX. Well, up til 8 anyway.

RIIIGHT, keep telling yourself that. And thanks for explaining why every smartphone after the iPhone suddenly is now having success.

So everyone lost money on the smartphone market up until Apple showed up? Makes me wonder why Apple attempted entering their own product into a failing market at all.

 

[Digital Skunk]

The quality of the product is the same as the iPad, the back just isn't made of metal. I think putting that much power into such a small cheap device takes a lot of innovation. As for usability and security, Android is brilliant at both.

I was going to mention this, but thanks for posting this.

I don't ever recall Apple ever saying (especially during the keynote) that the Macbook Air was the first of it's kind. Yes it's true that Sony brought out the X505 but what happened? Sure the industry already had "tablet" computers before the iPad but what happened? Sure there were smartphones before the iPhone but what happened? Sure there were ways to buy music online before iTunes but what happened?

All moot points. You didn't read anything anyone posted, so you didn't see the comments where people kept insisting that Apple's MBA was the first of it's kind.

Secondly, all of the products you mentioned did well. As we've said before. Thirdly, we aren't saying that Apple's products weren't successful, or that we never use anything Apple. On the contrary, I wouldn't touch anything but iTunes to handle my music . . . . as we've said before . . . . over and over again. We just don't want drivel being shouted about Apple doing thing that they haven't, it gives the impression that Apple fans (like myself and others) look bad, ignorant, and just plain delusional . . . like many on here actually are. Apple fans are not that way, and don't think Apple invented the computer.

Nor do Apple fans think that everything not Apple is terrible in every way. We've never thought that, not even since the late 90's or early 2000's when I crossed over.

...... Windows is not outselling OS X. ......

Just stop . . . . please!

....I will say that the iPhone defined what we now think of as a modern smartphone. Apple paid more attention to the pure usability of the device moreso than any other company before them. While none of it was truly "new", it was a best of all worlds device packaged into a slick little shell.

No matter which side of the fence you sit on, left, right, or middle, no one can deny that the iPhone was responsible for giving the mobile scene a huge kick in the ass......

Yes! Just that! We've been saying it since 2007, and had been asking for a device like it since 2004. The smartphones at the time did EVERYTHING, and did much of it well, but were just a PITA to use.

It was really the first and last piece of innovation that the iPhone had. NO ONE would've thought to put the pieces together like Apple did. Now, from that we've moved into integrating social media, cloud computing, an even easier UI, personal lifestyles, traveling tools, and productivity apps. Some devices do things better than others.

 

[KohPhiPhi]

Netbooks were great at what they were conceived to be: an ultra-cheap, ultra-mobile FULL OS machine with USB ports. Nor iPads (non-full OS, no USB) nor MBAs (not cheap) can claim that.

I once bought a netbook for a long vacation overseas because I needed to run full operating system software instead of ghetto apps without having to lug my laptop around and without incurring in the risk of damaging my work laptop in the trip. I paid around $300 for a netbook at it got the job done just fine all through my travelings.

When I came back, I sold it for $190 so the overall cost was $100'ish, and it served its purpose just perfectly.

The netbook killer hasn't been the iPad nor the MBA. The killer of that category has been its poor financials, since netbook developers were hardly making any profit off those $250 little machines. Netbook had their usefulness, but they made no financial sense to the developers.

 

[HenryDJP]

Just stop . . . . please!

Rather than talking down to me, show the actual OS sales numbers. Of course more Windows licenses are sold in the wild but I'm going by the same idea as Android against iOS. Too many people shout that Android sells more than iOS. Truth is there's more hardware with it installed, henceforth more sales opportunities. The same has been about Windows PC's vs. Macs.

And yes while I do agree with you that people blindly look at Apple's products as the first time it's been done but at the same time for a forum that's suppose to be for Apple enthusiasts there are many posts here that seem like they are very much against Apple, yours included.
Incidentally, I've been on the Mac since Mac OS 8 so you're not the only legacy Mac users here.

 

[Renzatic]

Rather than talking down to me, show the actual OS sales numbers. Of course more Windows licenses are sold in the wild but I'm going by the same idea as Android against iOS. Too many people shout that Android sells more than iOS. Truth is there's more hardware with it installed, henceforth more sales opportunities. The same has been about Windows PC's vs. Macs.

Here you go.

Windows does in fact sell beyond new PC licenses.

 

[JAT]

I still think Netbooks are better than iPads. My Dell netbook hacked to run OSX lets me run the software I want to run (e.g. Firefox) that Apple won't let me run plus it has more ram, disk space and a full keyboard and mouse and cost 1/2 of what an iPad costs.

Can you give a model number for this netbook that has a "full keyboard and mouse". Never seen one.

 

[craftytony]

Couldn't have been that much fun of a new years eve party if you bring along your Nexus 7 and look for a Wifi signal and drum up conversations. What ever happened to humans communicating on their own merit? Now devices are required to bring a party to get people talking.

You just wrote what we were all thinking lmao

 

[mrr]

A Ferrari is also just a better designed, better built, more powerful and more expensive, and faster Toyota.

What's your point?

The point is that the 11" MacBook Air really *is* a NETBOOK form factor.

The reason the market has dropped out in the PC arena, is that the PC netbooks are just CRAPPY. If they were better designed and built like the MacBook Air, they would still be going strong.