Review of the Apple Netbook threat
If executed in normal fashion, Steve Jobs and Apple could be on to something great: they could make their empire stronger, while increasing their share over the computer market. But this time they could do it differently. No elegant laptops. No exciting phones. No exhilarating computers. But simple, portable, and powerful netbooks – The question is though, could these “apple netbooks” break Microsofts ever growing stronghold over the personal computer market? Well, the business world has certainly kept their eyes locked onto the well hidden movements of Apple.
Review of the Apple Netbook as a threat to Netbooks
To begin with, Netbooks were first made comercial with the ASUS Eee PC in 2007. The original ASUS Eee PC’s were roughly 7 inches in screen size and were aimed at the 21st century consumer. The consumer who always travels and needs internet, access to work, photos and movies – without having to carry a heavy 17 inch, 10 pound machine.
Move forward two years, and from HP, Samsung, to Sony – you have every major technology company involved. Forecasts show that in one of the largest recessions in history, this relatively new product is estimated to have well over 30 million global sales by the end of 2009. Netbooks grew a reputation for being tiny budget computers, with relatively “sub-standard” specifications – Now, this is why the Apple Netbook could potentially be a threat to the current netbook market.
At the moment, the majority of “top-range” netbooks are licensed under Microsoft. With the aim in mind of creating a netbook industry and giving the market plenty of years to come, Microsoft created some barriers and limitations on Netbooks using Windows XP. This has meant that some Netbooks could not have some more advanced features and specifications they would like. Instead, they must wait a few months until Windows 7 is released and the limitations are lifted. For example, the MSI Wind U115 faced several issues in it’s release due to the fact that it had a hybrid SDD and HDD. This meant that it was only released commercially in the UK and Japan – not in the US.
These limitations placed by Microsoft do in fact give netbook companies time to work on and create steady foundations for the future. However, the Apple Netbook forcast for release in 2009 has a limited number of time and hardware limitations in comparison. The Apple Netbook released could potentially have a hard drive with well over 250GB, a fast processor, a graphics card. Oh, and in true Apple fashion – a tablet or touchscreen.
This Apple tablet Netbook could cost you an estimated $500-$700. With this powerful combination of specifications and with little boundaries, Apple become could become a tough company to compete with not just in the Netbook industry, but they could pose new competition for the popular Amazon Kindle and potentially other tablet and touchscreen computers.
Review of the Apple Netbook as a threat to Microsoft
The threat for Microsoft comes if Apple rise in popularity. If they do, large netbook companies such as ASUS, Samsung, and Acer could start moving away from Microsoft operating systems and instead, moving to Apple software and operating systems.
Competition like this would place pressure not only on Microsoft, but on Netbook companies to raise their standard and use the new specifications placed by the upcoming Windows 7 to the fullest. At this rate, it appears that current netbooks will not even be able to compare with netbooks released in the following months.
Expect large things from Apple, and netbooks as a whole.
Filed under: Apple Netbook Review