Some of the most interesting executives in today’s personal computer market are the small group of senior marketing managers charged with managing netbook campaigns. Constrained by budgets that reflect netbook bargain basement pricing, many netbook marketing managers are working hard to differentiate their products amid a pool of similar bargain basement technological offerings.
One of the companies I watch closely is Sony Electronics, which like Lenovo, HP and others doesn’t rush into a market merely to claim territory but, makes an entrance when it thinks a design or feature set will set its products apart from the crowd of other companies touting basic technologies.
While its offices may be in west Los Angeles and San Diego , Sony and its portable computing systems are at their heart very much Japanese. And it’s that take on netbooks that could give it an edge in the coming months as virtually every other netbook maker readies new systems based on Microsoft’s Windows 7 or other operating systems.
Sony’s Xavier Lauwaert, a senior marketing manager for the company’s W portable product line is the manager tasked with launching and marketing netbooks. Mr. Lauwaert notes “the market is confused about the differences between ultra compact notebooks and netbooks.”
“In our eyes netbooks are a complimentary, device for individuals who wander (from room to room). Netbooks are personal devices, not shared computers,” Mr. Lauwaert says
When asked about next generation Sony netbooks, the marketing manager is careful not to give away the store before the company launches its another new product (which will be its second in this category this year). “We haven’t done true justice to the market yet and I wonder ‘do we need to rethink the discussion of the importance of cell-based voice phones versus (cellular) data?
“When I think of how to describe where netbooks are going, I think of a (cell) phone on steroids.”
“But we think netbooks are mobile Internet devices and home Internet devices.”
“If there’s one market where people are ready to accept one device that controls your entire home, it’s a home netbook (that goes with an individual user from room to room).Think of the concept of a home internet device that controls everything in your home.” Mr. Lauwaert says.
Sony’s senior manager also belongs to a small group of forward thinking marketing managers challenging some of the perceptions that have been at the core of personal computing for decades. “What consumers and executives have to realize is that stripping a CPU of features that have been accepted as standard for years is a less than optimal solution. This means that some users may have to get use to sacrificing some features to gain new functionality: for example many customers will need a data modem, but not an internal optical drive.”
And what about the real life cost of persistent connectivity— one of the ongoing bullet points in netbooks resold by cell carriers in conjunction with multi-year cellular data contracts? “That $99 netbook ends up costing its owners as much as $2,000 (the cost of some cellular data plans over a 24-month period) at the end of two years. We think Pay-as- you Go cellular data access will be attractive to many users.” Mr. Lauwaert notes.
Sony is also counting on future interface technologies from Microsoft to help position and introduce its dream of the netbook as a home controller used by an individual to takes it from room to room, the product manager hinted.—Jim Forbes 08/17/2009.
Hey Jim,
Don't get me started on Sony, the company that brought us Trinitron TVs and the Walkman. What happened to them - so sad. Also Retrevo, just published the results from a survey that says this year, students prefer netbooks and PCs to Macbooks. Apple Insider wrote a nice post on it http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/08/18/school_shoppers_choose_netbooks_over_apple_for_now.html
Don't forget the 5-inch DSDL media format, and beta max
thanks Andrew..jim
Be well...
Posted by: Andrew Eisner | August 18, 2009 at 04:20 PM