Android on Netbooks Heats Up: Are Apps the Tipping Point?
We have covered the move to put Android on netbooks, especially those running ARM processors. These processors are tailor-made for mobile computing as they generate less heat and require less power than Intel’s Atom commonly used in netbooks. The “less heat” part is really important; it means that ARM-based netbooks can be thinner and smaller than Intel-based versions as they don’t need heat sinks nor fans. That will change with the new fanless Atom, but that chip isn’t expected until later this year. Android is being tested now by many companies that produce netbooks, as witnessed at the recent Computex trade show in Taiwan.
Attendees noticed that Android-based netbooks were all over the place at Computex, and even ASUS, arguably the creator of the first netbook, was showing one. It is definitely looking like we will start seeing Android netbooks before too much longer, and that’s a good thing.
There are those who would argue that Android will not compete with Windows in the netbook segment for the same reasons that Linux has fallen behind. They will point out that Windows is popular because it is familiar to consumers and because they need to perform work tasks like document creation/editing, not just the web surfing that netbooks focus on. The need to work with documents is a valid point, but I’m not so sure it is a big factor as far as Android is concerned. There is already a pretty decent office suite in the Android Marketplace that would go a long way toward making an Android netbook a competitive tool in the netbook world.
Documents to Go by DataViz has been a full-featured suite for mobile phones for years and has evolved into a pretty powerful tool for road warriors. It offers full Word and Excel compatibility for many phone platforms. DataViz recently released a version for Android that is getting rave reviews, and it looks like it could be a decent office suite on a netbook, providing Office 2007 compatibility on the cheap.
This is just one app, and developers are busy working on many others for the Android platform. The focus is on Android phones, no doubt, but it makes sense that they could easily adapt these apps for a netbook platform. These types of productivity apps could be the avenue for Android netbooks to enter the netbook fray. Having “Android Inside” would be a big differentiator in the netbook world, something that OEMs are struggling to produce.
I think apps are totally the tipping point for android phones. Interestingly though I suspect the majority of users don’t use apps (jsut a guess) but they create a buzz, or seem to have at least on the iphone. Apps combined with great user interfaces are what’s required
This will definitely be a boon for the App Market. That’s one gripe I had with my G1 as compared to iPhones App Store. While most of those apps will be designed not for a smartphone but for the smartbook, raised interest in the Android OS can’t hurt. I wonder what kind of splintering that will do to the marketplace and if you will see a clear division between apps meant for the netbook/smartbook realm, and ones meant for the smartphone.
the trick is to make the gui screen size independent, beyond that the diff will be mostly computing power.
James,
IF Google shows the same power to attract developers than Apple… we might have a game changer, after all. The whole concept of an “App Store”, the (almost-)”always-connected” paradigm and the combination of an easy to use GUI with a good price-tag are the factors that have never been combined before. And this could be a real challenger to the Wintel world. Unless… Intel and Microsoft are able to make the Wintel so portable and cheap that an option is not necessary. So, the question might be: are they ready to kill their cash-cow?