April 6th, 2009
Linux laptops look to phone stores and Web for distribution
Microsoft’s strategy for fighting off Linux laptops, which are Netbooks powered by Ubuntu or Android, seems clear.
Keep them out of retail distribution.
At a conventional computer store like Fry’s in Duluth, Georgia this is working great.
I went by there yesterday on other business, and was able to find two brands of Netbooks on the shelves. (Amazon is currently out of stock on this Linux Netbook, an HP 1120NR.)
None of the units at Fry’s ran Linux. All were powered by Windows XP Home, along with Microsoft Works and a “60-day trial” version of Microsoft Office.
The HP 1010NR was the only “traditional” Netbook on display, in that it had no moving parts, just an 8 GB solid state drive. It was priced at $269.99. That’s $60 less than the price on HP’s Web site.
The other three Netbooks on the shelf, another HP model and two from Acer, included conventional hard drives, moving parts that make them less rugged than the 1010NR, more like traditional notebooks.
The Acer Aspire models were priced at $359.88 and $409.98, with an endcap display showing young, happy people dancing. They reminded me of Toyota Scions, which are also sold as “young” when in fact many buyers are my age, 54.
Point is, Fry’s views Netbooks as the low-end of its line of Windows laptops. The low end of its laptop line at the store I visited was priced at $499. Linux? We don’t need no steenkin’ Linux.
This is not the end of the story, however.
T-Mobile is getting ready to stock both Android phones and “tablet computers” later this year, according to The New York Times. Our own Bonnie Cha spotted two Samsung Android devices at CTIA, and Sprint is confirmed to be offering them alongside T-Mobile by the Kansas City Star.
ZDNet’s John Morris reported April 1 that AT&T will soon offer Netbooks for $50, with a two-year service agreement. At CTIA Verizon was also said to be nosing about the subsidized Netbook market.
The question is, will these be Android units, Windows, or (dare we hope) Ubuntu?
Amazon carries ASUS, HP and Sylvania Netbooks with Linux, at prices running from under $250 to nearly $400.
At some point, as more Netbooks are offered, including many with Ubuntu Linux and Android, it’s going to occur to antitrust officials that their failure to gain any retail distribution might be a problem. You think?
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 04/06/09
