The notebook second coming, didn’t anyone predict it?

Rodney Gedda

Rodney Gedda is the former deputy editor of CIO and former editor of Techworld.

There’s a word I’ve wanted to use for quite some time now – gazumped!

The “formal” definition of gazumping is to refuse to proceed with a property sale agreement at the last minute in order to accept a higher offer.

In other words, to be completely shot out of the deal is to be gazumped, and that’s what is happening in today’s notebook revolution.

The ultra-portable computer, subnotebook, or whatever you want to call it, is nothing new in computing circles. Just this week PC World reported how the TRS-80 Model 100 catapulted the portable computing market – back in 1983!

Since then the notebook makers have continued to push the boundaries of what’s possible to cram into a portable computer. Notebooks became desktop replacements and subnotebooks remained relatively obscure, expensive, and, at times, without fully-fledged desktop operating systems.

But that doesn’t mean there always wasn’t a subnotebook market, particularly among consumers who don’t use computers for a living. Why would anyone non-technical want a 17-inch, 2.5kg brick for $2000 when they can get 10-inch, 1kg, cute little computer for $500?

Take a look at Apple’s MacBook Air for a classic example of a vendor telling the market what it wants – you will use a notebook without an Ethernet port – rather than releasing a product that might appeal to the mass market consumers who may have never even used Wi-Fi.

Don’t be surprised to see a MacBook Mini within 12 months. Apple’s biggest inhibitor will be whether it can force itself to competitively price any such subnotebook offering. An Apple subnotebook for $1000? That’s still double the cost of the competition.

The relatively obscure Asus, which made a name for itself selling PC components and Lamborghini-styled notebooks, has completely gazumped the big box notebook vendors by storming on the subnotebook market with the Eee PC.

The Eee PC did to the portable computing market what Nintendo’s Wii did to the game console market. Sony and Microsoft battled it out to build the biggest and best gaming machines while Nintendo tool a step back and said hang-on, there’s like millions of people around the world that have never gamed. Let’s go for that market with an innovative, and interactive, entertainment console that’s also less expensive than the competition.

And while it’s good to see a choice of operating system, the fact that it would ship with Linux or Windows is a third-order issue for the mass market. The most compelling attractions being size and price.

One positive side-effect of a vendor offering Linux is the geek factor. I remember vividly the almost unbelievable number of Eee PCs being used at this year’s Linux.conf.au in Melbourne. It was like every third person had an Eee. Note to all computer vendors – ignore the Linux dollar at your own peril.

The remarkable success of the Eee begs the question – did Asus itself see it coming? It’s possible some smart cookie at Asus saw the potential for the notebook market to be cracked wide open by a cheap subnotebook, but even if it wasn’t a cunning plan the result has forever shaped portable computing history.

Now all big names a scrambling to catch up. The past few months has seen HP, Dell, and more recently Acer, release their own low-cost subnotebooks capable of running Linux or Windows XP.

Now portable computing, and indeed computing itself, will be accessible to many more people thanks to the subnotebook revolution. And the products deserve the IT industry’s support for that very reason.

Let the revolution accelerate!