Humble pencil case and pen obsolete?

From The Age
Asher Moses
January 28, 2009 - 3:22PM

Sales of netbooks in Australia have exploded, with the mini low-cost computers now accounting for more than one in 10 laptop and desktop PCs sold - no mean feat considering they've been around for just over a year.

Retailers say the growth has been driven in part by cash-strapped parents seeking to equip their children with simple, low-powered computers for doing homework before the new school year, which for state schools began today.

"We sold over 4500 laptops in a week during back-to-school sales in Dick Smith stores across the country," Dick Smith spokesman Luke Schepen said.

"Netbooks appear to be driving this growth with customers looking to switch to the smaller formats which offer the basic functionality needed for students at an affordable price."

Intel, which produces the chips that power the netbooks, said sales across all brands in Australia had increased from 10 per cent of the consumer laptop market six months ago to 21 per cent today.

"The volume of netbooks sold in Australia doubled between Q3 and Q4 of 2008 and sits well above 10 per cent of total desktops and notebooks sold which, as far as Intel is concerned, moves the netbook very solidly into being a legitimate product category in its own right," Intel Australia marketing manager Kate Burleigh said.

The netbook category was pioneered in November 2007 by Asus with its Eee PC products and immediately appealed to tech-savvy users looking for a highly portable, inexpensive laptop for use as a second computer and for browsing the web while out of the house.

But parents have also been buying them for their children to take advantage of the Rudd Government's Education Tax Refund. This allows parents to claim up to $375 in education expenses for each primary school child and $750 for each secondary school child.

Netbooks typically range in price from just over $300 to $800, depending largely on the size of the screen and other extra features such as a bundled wireless broadband plan for connecting to the internet when out of the house.

They typically weigh about one kilogram and some can easily fit into a jacket pocket, making them ideal for people who want to be able to surf the web on the go and always have access to email and social networking sites.

"[Netbooks] are an extremely fast growing category in the notebook market," Evan Williams, Dell's consumer sales and marketing manager for Australia and New Zealand, said.

"A lot of people who already have a productivity notebook in the home are taking this as a second device for while they're out and about."

Analyst firm IDC has predicted global netbook sales would grow by up to 300 per cent in 2009 compared with 2008.

At the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas this month, HP, Dell, Lenovo, MSI Computer, Asus and Acer all showed off new netbook models. Asus will soon sell one with a touch screen that swivels into the tablet format.

Although netbooks are low-powered, the trend toward web-based email, office and other services (as opposed to installing software on the computer itself) means that it is not essential to have a powerful machine.

In fact, the lack of grunt might be beneficial in a school context because an inability to play games, watch DVDs or even stream YouTube videos smoothly means children have no choice but to concentrate on work.

The NSW Department of Education and Training is about to select a supplier of "learning devices" (laptops) that it plans to give to 200,000 secondary students.

The laptops must be $500, no bigger than an A4 sheet of paper, weigh less than 1.75 kilograms and be tough enough for school use (dust and moisture resistant and with no moving parts).

The price and specifications indicate the eventual design will resemble a ruggedised netbook.