MOBILE KILLED THE PC STAR
BY BENJAMIN ROBBINS D One of
o you remember the quick demise of those chunky white monitors when plasma screens entered the market, or how blackberry was
forced to succumb to the success of the iPhone? Well guess what, now the netbook is officially dead.
The last two remaining manufacturers of netbook devices called it quits as of January 1st, 2013. Netbooks, which were introduced in 2007 (the same year as the iPhone, coincidentally), were seen as the saviour of the PC market. Analysts predicted large sales volumes for many years to come. Yet, after a short five-year run, this class of device is finished. The death of the netbook provides a microcosm that highlights the distinctions between the mobile experience and PCs and why the latter as a whole is on a path to suffer the same fate.
Netbooks were designed and marketed for the light duty work of web surfing, e-mail, and simple tasks—basically consumption activities.
These are
the same activities that are generally prescribed to mobile devices as well. As the adage goes, “Tablets are consumption devices.” This makes netbooks similar to tablets for intended use.
the arguments against
netbooks was that they were limited in performance as compared to fully functioning PCs. To be fair, as much as people complained that netbooks were slow, it was usually due to pushing
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Netbooks are a great example to look to when people argue there is no difference between a laptop and a tablet with a keyboard. They say, “Aren’t they just the same thing?” No.
the bounds of intended use. People seemed to forget that netbooks just weren’t designed to do the heavy lifting. Once folks were operating in that PC context, they expected PC performance.
Tablets are similarly
“limited,” and yet their sales growth is on the opposite trajectory. People do not currently have the same functional expectations of tablets.
The limited screen size was another complaint against and reasoning for the decline of netbooks. With their initial 7-inch and then 10-inch screen size, netbooks have always been on the smaller side. Yet tablets and their “mini” counterparts have similar screen-size constraints and don’t suffer from the same critique. In fact, they are lauded for their portability.
Still, another criticism of netbooks
was that their initial operating system, Linux, didn’t allow users to run PC software such as Microsoft Office. This was overcome by putting Windows XP into service but yielded a less than ideal experience. Tablets are unable to run PC software as well, but because of the refreshing experience they provide they are usually given a pass in this shortcoming. In fact, they are almost seen as being all the better for it, as they have their own ecosystem and market of apps specifically optimised for the experience.
Not even close. When you compare consumption experiences between a netbook and a tablet, there is a marked difference in experience and expectations. Mobile is so much more than a touch screen and a keyboard. The mobile experience is intuitive. The experience has been designed on what we have learned from years of user- centric design. The OS is secondary to the user experience. It blends into the background and brings user functions to the forefront. In one sense, apps take a much greater precedent over OS in mobility. On top of that, mobile offers the opportunity to be connected anytime, anywhere.
One of the main reasons that tablets
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