Price Explains Netbook Phase
Dell has stopped selling its Mini 9 netbook, according to CNet. Its sister product, the Mini 10, with a larger screen was evidently selling better, thus causing the elimination. It’s hard to read much into this decision, but it makes me think that the netbook phase (yes, it is a phase) has a lot more to do with price than portability.
Evidently, consumers are gravitating toward larger screens. Even in netbooks, where a 10 inch screen is likely to have the same resolution as a 9 inch screen, the sales differences were large enough for Dell to cancel the product. Or some anecdotal evidence – the Microsoft commercial where the buyer searches for a 17 inch screen for under $1000. For whatever reason, consumers like large screens. I’ll posit that it’s a heuristic of quality or usability. Bigger screen equals bigger value and bigger productivity.
So how does this fit with netbooks? These microcomputers have been selling well lately. Their selling features are mainly price and size. They aren’t expensive, as they lack huge amounts of power. And they are very small, meaning it’s easy to carry them around. But if Dell’s decision reflects any larger trend, it’s that netbooks have been selling well based on price rather than portability. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for ultraportable devices, but it does mean that the brunt of consumer purchases will go for a product with the most value, rather than the most portability.
Other companies need to be wary of this. A netbook that is high powered and expensive, like Sony’s new Vaio netbook, may not sell well, as most consumers will be put off by the price. Even though it represents the best in portable computing, it doesn’t have what it takes to move the average buyer. If Sony really wanted to make a splash, they should release a cheap Vaio with a 15 inch screen. Priced below $600, it would fly off the shelves.
I think Apple has done a good job of being cautious about the netbook market. They have yet to release a product that is stripped down and cheap. They have an ultraportable (their version) in the MacBook Air, and they have a mobile computing device in the iPhone and iPod Touch. If and when they release a tablet computer, I’m certain they will be careful about not marketing it as a netbook, but instead as a new device altogether.
I’m not sure if netbooks will remain popular forever, but it seems like the trend now has a lot more to do with price than it does with portability. Computing power doesn’t seem to mean a lot to the average computer user, which may be the main reason that there are so many dissatisfied Dell customers and so many happy Apple users. Selling an underpowered, cheap computer may move units, but it is still a far way from changing consumer desires. In the end, the rule of more for less still wins out.
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