Even though we’re only six month into 2009, there have been some big changes to the netbook space which indicate trends which will like carry through the end of 2009, and into 2010.  While there are many changes, this post will only focus on what appear to be the five most disruptive.

1) Size – When netbooks first came out they were less than nine inches in size.  Larger screens aren’t much more expensive but allow for manufacturers to charge a higher premium.  In so doing, the market for small screen netbooks has all but been eliminated.  Now, companies like Acer and Asus have been going upmarket with 10 inch screens becoming standard with some models starting to come out with 11 inches.  Expect to see more releases of 10 and 11 inch netbooks.  By having the larger screens, they’re easier to read.  In addition they also allow for the netbook to be wider which helps to accomodate fuller keywords.  

2) Connectivity – It only made sense to see more and more wireless carriers unveil plans for subsidized netbooks.  Their ability to have 3G cards built into them has allowed for people to connect them to AT&T, or Verizon without needing any external mobile cards.  The carriers continue to show their ability to tell customers what they want and have them be happy.  Netbook data plans are $59.99 for a scan 5GB of transfer.  This is great if you just want to check some email on the go, but not enough if you want to watch TV (or any other kind of video).  Despite these limitations people are buying into the concept of a netbook + data plan since carriers are offering these computers for as little as $99.  We may even get to a point later this year where you pay nothing for the computer, and only pay for the service.

3) Luxury – When Sony came out with their netbook and started pricing at $800 the first thing I said to myself is no way.  For them, it makes a lot of sense and actually if Apple were to make a netbook they would probably take the same approach.  It isn’t about selling a billion units as much as it’s about making a tidy profit on every netbook sold.  For example, MSI’s new X600 netbook will cost over $1,000 when it’s released and even if they don’t sell a bunch of them, however many they sell will undoubtedly be profitable.

4) Operating Systems – Microsoft has a lot to worry about with netbooks.  The smaller computers aren’t powerful enough to fully run Vista so Microsoft had to let them continue using XP, and older, less expensive version.  While there is hope that WIndows 7 will work well on both full featured notebooks as well as their ligher netbook cousins there is a lot of competition that people are paying attention to.  Intel is working to add their Moblin OS to netbooks, HP has created custom flavors of Linux and people are even creating their own operating systems from scratch to help make netbooks more useful.

5) Platforms – Originally netbooks used low power Celeron processors, and moved to Intel’s Atom platform.  It seemed like netbooks would be stuck with Intel 1.6Ghz processors forever but competitors have stepped up to the plate.  While AMD hasn’t said when, it’s only a matter of time when they unleash their netbook processor and chipsets into the marketplace.  In the meantime Qualcomm has stepped up to the plate with their Snapdragon chipset which will help them extend past cell phones into bigger devices.

These changes will continue to shape the products we call netbooks.

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