<i>We think there’s a third alternative which is much more enticing for the consumer and the manufacturer – make a netbook that is a pleasure to use and can serve as a gateway to lucrative subscription services.</i><p>How about making a netbook that is a pleasure to use and can serve as a gateway to data I serve from my home computer?
Netbooks with great usability and gizmos that make for interesting apps(gps, touch etc) combined with a billing system that allows for subscription pricing for services would be as explosive as an iphone and the app store. It would be great way for companies to drive up the revenue beyond what they get from laptops today.
The problem with netbooks is that they occupy a market position sandwiched between smartphones and full-featured laptops. A netbook that is only sold with 3G service sounds very much like Apple's business model with the iPhone.
My G1 is practically a netbook, I can browse, I can use maps, I can download applications, read ebooks, alarm clock, develop for it. Anything I can do for a netbook I can do on the g1. Short of flash and java.<p>Its getting better every release :)