Google netbooks to be priced competitive

[Chris]

Google first announced their Chrome OS netbooks that we originally covered back in July 2009 and they released source code later in November, but they never indicated what the price might be for these machines releasing later this fall - now we know. Speaking to Google's CEO Eric Schmidt in a recent fireside chat he stated [...]

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[ThisIsNot]

I don't know. Hardware aside, I just can't see people paying $300-$400 for netbooks running a non-Windows OS. Low prices weren't enough to thwart off consumer demand for Windows XP (and above). Many of those Linux powered netbooks were offered at $50-$100 less than their Windows XP brethren yet they disappeared from the market.

Put the same hardware in a well designed netbook with Google's Chrome OS and charge $199 for it, I think that might be able to punch a small hole in the (sadly) Windows 7 Starter dominated market. Even then, Google would have to team up with other companies to get software up and running on their OS. An operating system is only as good as the programs it runs. That is one of the reasons why Microsoft has kept a stranglehold on the PC market; their various Windows releases, over the years, run almost everything (a lot more programs and hardware than Linux, Unix, and Mac OS combined).

Many people would likely be turned away from Chrome OS even if those netbooks had a lower price. Can it run iTunes? Nope. Can I hook my iPod up to it? Nope. What about Office, can I install that? Well, you can install OpenOffice, it is kind of like Microsoft Office except that it has a few less features (and a few more features) and isn't universally accepted (not to mention that their presentation program absolutely sucks). Will Nvidia, Broadcom, Adobe, or others support Chrome OS? I don't know. What can I do on a Chrome OS netbook that I can't do on Windows 7 Starter netbooks for the same price? Well, you can start the OS a little faster and likely push the hardware for a little longer on a single charge.

We will see what Google does but non-Windows operating systems (and computers that run them) have been trying to capture a small part of the market for over 15 years now. Apple has been the most successful and they started off at the top with Windows initially being the off competition. Even Apple can't topple that thrown as 9 out of every 10 computers sold have some various flavor of Windows.

hardware needs ports and the os needs apps. it needs to run the three hard drives and two DVD burners sitting on my desk as well as the printer and scanner on the shelf. finally it has to give me a good computing experience. then we talk price. LOL

[ericinboston]

I agree with all of Thisisnot's comments. My addition would be:

1)Maybe the netbook market will just slowly become another version of the personal computer market...an inexpensive, low-powered laptop. Period. Just like we have desktops and laptops, we now (in the future) will have lots of netbooks to choose from for $300-$400.

2)I have to believe that the iPad market will birth a new market...a market where people want an iPad type device. Netbooks, laptops, and desktops will still sell to people who need a personal computer (as we have defined it for a very long time (with ports, a popular OS, powerful apps, keyboard, etc)) but this new tablet market will have lots of customers.

3)I think Google is too late...in my view, they are/were trying to create the iPad...Google was trying to create a new OS with a new browser that was going to sell cheaply and give people great performance with stripped down functionality...that's exactly what the iPad is. Granted Google was plopping all this on standard hardware, but I truly believe they were essentially creating an iPad OS and user experience. Or at least trying to. Googles announcement of this initiative seems ancient...I swear it feels like they announced this 2 years ago. High tech companies should know that they cannot announce something and 9 months later come back to tell us it's almost done! Until this thread started, the last time I even thought of Google on a netbook was before Christmas 2009.

4)Dropping prices does not necessarily create the market. I think netbooks at $300-$400 offer a great value. Trying to drop the price $100+ simply because it ships with a new OS is not going to get people to buy. People want the experience...if they know Win7 or WinXP, that's what they want. If they are familiar with their iPod Touch or iPhone, they may look at the capabilities and missing features of the iPad and see what's right for them.

-Eric

[ThisIsNot]

Originally Posted by ericinboston

2)I have to believe that the iPad market will birth a new market...

Dell, HP, Asus, and others were all hard at work on their tablets even before Apple released the iPad. This in between market will likely flourish simply because it is kind of new. People are willing to get slimmed down models that run a different operating system on a tablet device that offers stellar battery life and great apps. That is one area where Google's operating system has yet to be tested: apps. Android and iPhone OS have proven themselves in terms of apps but Chrome... Yeah, not so much. I think that Google is trying to tap into that new market with Chrome OS while using standard netbook hardware (along with a standard keyboard and touch pad/mouse). Nothing really different except pushing a new OS.

Originally Posted by ericinboston

3)I think Google is too late...

I thought Chrome OS was supposed to be out by now. I haven't followed the OS since Google announced it and a beta was floating around. I installed the beta on a work netbook (I had a clone for it so restoring the netbook would take all of 10 minutes), didn't like the tabbed browsing, and just restored the netbook back to Windows XP. Ubuntu, Gentoo, HP, Dell, and others have all tried to push out standard hardware netbooks with alternative operating systems. They failed so I think a good chunk of those companies have progressed into tablet development, an area where running Windows 7 isn't necessarily needed. HP hasn't even released their slate (the leaked model is nothing more than a netbook without a keyboard and with a touch screen, it definitely isn't the device that HP and Balmer were making it out to be) yet they are already looking at Linux and Android for other tablets. Dell's series of tablets (which will be released soon) are all going to run Android. Yes, Google will be really late to the party and I don't see why they need to be there. After all, a large amount of future tablets are going to run their Android OS. I really don't think they need another OS out there when they already have one that is pretty good.

Originally Posted by ericinboston

4)Dropping prices does not necessarily create the market.

No, it wouldn't create a market but it would sure help push people to buy their hardware/software. By Fall 2010, people are going to be able to walk into Best Buy and see $300-$400 netbooks all running Windows 7 Starter (there might be a 7 Home Premium one thrown in), $500-$700 iPad models, tablet offerings from Dell running Android (that will likely cost around $300-$400), other tablets running Android, and standard netbooks running Chrome OS for the same price. People will either go with a netbook, ultra portable notebook (for a little more money), or a tablet/slate. I just don't see how Chrome OS can get people to look at it other than slashing the price of the entire package by a large amount.