Partnerships with cellular network carriers who are helping to subsidize low initial acquisition pries may become one of the driving forces for the first of several new trends in the emerging netbook market.
Acer, has become the first company to establish both a sub $100 price point and announce a partnership with US cellular network provider, AT&T.
Acer’s retail partner outlet for its new Acer Aspire One 3G is the national electronics retailer, Radio Shack. While the sub $100 price sets a new netbook entry point, the deal has some interesting caveats:
The introductory offer is good only through December 24 of next week;
And, it requires users to buy a two-year, data-only, contract with AT&T.
Acer’s inexpensive netbook offering that is centered around a cellular data connection may have surprised other netbook suppliers for several reasons:
First, US-based portable computer marketing officials have been focused on ASUS’s multiple product netbook line despite the fact that Acer, which captured a whopping near 40 percent market share for the fiscal sales period just ended; Secondly, most netbook suppliers are still examining potential cellular data networks partners while Acer boldly locked up AT&T.
The success of Acer’s Aspire One netbook (which uses Windows XP as its operating system) may be the clearest signal yet to other netbook players that connectivity and support issues could be a gating factor in the acceptance and adoption of Linux-based netbooks.
Netbooks are still such a new category that many suppliers are not yet forever married to technologies such as Intel and other name suppliers’ low power processors. And, as this category twists and divides, companies such as Qualcomm which this week premiered a new processor here that could rapidly gain a secure foot-hold in the market, because of that company’s tight bonding to cell network providers.
While Acer is limiting its Acer Aspire One to data connections, other netbook marketers/manufacturers may be prototyping or specifying the features of new systems that incorporate voice and data cellular features.
The one down side of Acer’s partnership with AT&T’s cellular network could be throughput degradation attributable to large numbers of Apple iPhone users using their devices for wireless internet connections.
If history repeats itself in the netbook category the next six to nine months will probably be filled with portable computer makers beginning to fill out their product lines with numerous netbooks, some of which will offer attractive “come-hither” contracts with individual cellular partners.
Although I’ve not yet jumped with both of my size 13 feet boots into netbooks, It’s possible I’ll buy one in the nextfour months, providing the cell contract doesn’t require me selling either of my grown children, my dog “Perro” or any future grand children.—Jim Forbes 12/16/2008
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