The
Asus Eee PC 900, sporting an 8.9" screen and a price tag closer to a low-budget laptop than the smaller Eee PCs or CloudBooks, has sparked a discussion here at Cloud Computing Advocacy that echos
Mary Lou Jepsen's take on CES this year: (emphasis added)
99% of the stuff is unneccessary, expensive stuff basically derivative of Apple. Yes, this is a simplication but in very gross terms - Steve Jobs leads and everyone else follows. However, Apple really just serves a niche market - the rich. There are literally billions of people that want to join the information age. OLPC has shown that we can make products that are just as exciting at the low-end, not stripped down machines but products that people are proud to use and proud to own. They don't have to be expensive. This area isn't being well-served by the current consumer electronics industry and where Pixel Qi will aim. But immediately there is need to get the OLPC screens that Mary Lou invented into conventional laptops as soon as possible.
Apple, the standard for consumer electronics, produces non-essential gadgets for a small market of rich customers. Other products, including windows PCs and laptops, Linux computers and iPod-like devices are generic imitations. A much larger market is now excited about fully functional but more economical computers. The closest thing to that machine is the conventional laptop, but alternatives include:
- Public use computers (at internet cafes, libraries, and so on) combined with cloud computing allow many people to own a piece of the internet without owning computing hardware. Properly done this can be more economical and nearly as convenient and exciting as owning a personal computer.
- Recycled computers bridge the internal digital divides in areas that have decent electrical power and affordable wired internet access. This small subset is still bigger than the Apple niche. PC recyclers are learning to use better aesthetics and branding than the traditional cheap looking "used computer."
- Smart phones/handsets are spreading quickly in developing countries. They are lightweight, efficient and economical. Phones are sometimes better equipped for interaction between the world and the web than cheaper laptops, thanks to rapid deployment of small innovations like built-in cameras.
The total cost to benefit ratio of owning a laptop has been much better than a PC for several years. Now the up-front price of a new low-end laptop is about the same as a low-end desktop PC with keyboard and monitor. So laptops are heading toward that more economical, more universal market.
In that sense the Eee PC and CloudBook are evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
The laptop is on it's way to becoming something like a smart phone, but at the price of a "dumb" phone. To turn a handset into a general-purpose computer which is used to create and manage content and services (rather than only consuming them) improvements and alternatives are needed for text input, large image display, battery charging and service contracts (which can undermine the sense of ownership and excitement.)
