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Why Netbooks Will Soon Cost $99

Posted by Soulskill on from the act-now-while-supplies-last dept.

CWmike sends along a ComputerWorld piece which predicts that "netbooks like the Asus Eee PC, the Dell Mini 9 and the HP 2133 Mini-Note will soon cost as little as $99. The catch? You'll need to commit to a two-year mobile broadband contract. The low cost will come courtesy of a subsidy identical to the one you already get with your cell phone. It's likely that HP is working with AT&T (they're reported to be talking), which announced a major strategic shift a couple of weeks ago that should result in AT&T stores selling nonphone gadgets that can take advantage of mobile broadband, including netbooks. What's more interesting is that low income and cheapskate buyers are starting to use iPhones as replacements or substitutes for netbook, notebook and even desktop PCs. The author's take: A very large number of people are increasingly looking to buy a single device — or, at least, subscribe to a single wireless account — for all their computing and communications needs, and at the lowest possible price."

9 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. "cheapskate buyers"? by Laebshade · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd hardly call using an iPhone as a replacement or substitute for a net/note/lap/dog-book or desktop being a "cheapskate buyer".

    1. Re:"cheapskate buyers"? by Coeurderoy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually calling them incompetent buyer would be more accurate, but the parent article is still quite right.
      Most people are impulse buyer and will pay anything if the "first byte" is not too painful.
      You will see things like:
      59$ down payment 19.9 for the three first month (and in small 29.9 for the super premium student value subscription or 59.9 for the standard and 99.9 for the business (the only one that is actually of any use to you) subscription...

  2. Better to just buy it outright. by CastrTroy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It would be better just to buy it outright. With free wireless broadband being so easy to get, and the cost of these netbooks dropping, you are probably just better off buying it outright, and not being tied into a provider.

    --

    Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  3. Frankly by Colin+Smith · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't understand why I can't simply "dock" my 300MHz 64Mb RAM, 2Gb storage mobile phone into a cradle and use a normal keyboard, mouse and screen to edit documents, write emails, browse web etc.

    Psion had fully featured word processors, spreadsheets and cardfile databases running on 16bit hardware a decade ago, the problem isn't the OS or hardware... All the current crop of smartphones are up to the job.
     

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    Deleted
  4. If only by kurtis25 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If mobile broadband were fast enough to watch TV online, if the bandwidth caps were high enough to connect to my firm's remote server 8 hours a day and watch 5 hours of TV shows online a week and it was less than the $30 a month I pay for internet now I would sign up in a heartbeat.

  5. Predictions by markdavis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    1) MS-Windows only
    2) Overpriced monthly service
    3) Hardware hard-wired for only a single carrier

    How wonderful, I can hardly wait.

    Why don't we do this with cars next- "Get this wonderful car for only $8,000; just sign this $800 per month, 3 year contract for Exxon gas- and oh, by the way, it will only run on Exxon gas, and you are only allowed 20 gallons per month".

  6. People with low to intermediate computing needs... by walter_f · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... will indeed be able to get things done with a well-chosen netbook. The more intelligent among them (be their income low or relatively high) will prefer to buy their netbooks the traditional way, not as a part of a two-year service contract.

    On the other hand, whoever expects to satisfy their computing needs with an iPhone or a similar device will end up dissatisfied, and doubly so when on a service contract that has to be paid for monthly from a low income.

  7. The Failed Business Models of the 1990s by tyme · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There is a big difference between the subscription plan you buy with your mobile phone and subscription plans like this: with the mobile phone, the thing the customer is actually interested in isn't the physical phone, but the ability to make phone calls on the network, so paying the subscription fee makes sense for the consumer; the cost of the phone, which is usually indexed to the customer's desire for features/prestige/etc. is incidental to the actual thing being sold: access to the wireless network. With all these plans to sell full-fledged computers by tacking their price onto some other service, the problem is that the other service is usually incidental to customer's actual interest: the computer. If the customer doesn't really want the thing you are trying to sell, then you will have a tough time keeping them in the subscription plan.

    This was tried by a number of companies in the late nineties, and all failed miserably. Apparently there are a bunch of young MBAs out there who didn't learn the lesson of the iOpener.

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    just a ghost in the machine.
  8. So, $59/month x 24 plus $100 = $1500 by gelfling · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seems like not so much a bargain. But that's just me.