Acer Working on Several Android Devices
Acer is already working on several different devices using Google’s Android operating system and software, and plans to launch a smartphone using the software later this year.
“The entire industry is looking at Android,” said Acer president and CEO Gianfranco Lanci at the company’s first-quarter investor’s conference in Taipei on Wednesday.
“We are testing Android on a lot of different solutions,” he said. “We are working on an Android solution for the smartphone, [but] I think it’s too early to say if we’re going to see Android on a netbook in the near future.”
He said Android is “very, very good for communication and Web access and so on,” but he’s not sure yet if it’s right for traditional PCs.
A smartphone with Android makes a lot more sense than a netbook with the OS, he said.
Google’s Android software has become a popular topic due to its success so far in smartphones.
T-Mobile USA, the first mobile network operator globally to launch an Android handset, the G1, has sold one million of the smartphones in the first six months since it went on the market.
Although that’s far less than the number of iPhones Apple sold in its first two quarters on the market, it’s still a big start for a brand new operating system.
Several more Android smartphones have been announced recently, including a few more from the G1’s developer, High Tech Computer (HTC), the first one from Samsung Electronics, and two for Far EasTone, a Taiwanese mobile network operator.
Netbooks are a new frontier for Android.
Hewlett-Packard earlier this year confirmed rumors that it had been testing Android on netbooks and China’s Guangzhou Skytone Transmission Technologies said its Android netbook is undergoing final testing before it launches.
Developed by Google, Android is a smartphone operating system that is meant to make Web browsing easy, especially on Google sites such as YouTube and Google Maps. The majority of netbooks today use Microsoft’s Windows XP OS
First Android-Powered Netbook Due in Three Months
Skytone Transmission Technologies, based in Guangzhou, China, says it is just three months away from producing the world’s first Android-powered netbook, the Alpha 680. The new device is powered by the ARM11 533 Mhz processor, with a paltry 128MB RAM expandable to 256MB, 1 or 4GB Solid State Drive, 7-inch LCD monitor with 800-by-480 resolution, two USB ports, an SD card slot, Wi-Fi, optional 3G antenna, an unspecified keyboard size, and a two-cell battery with approximately two to four hours of battery life.
Skytone is currently having trouble getting about 20 percent of Android apps to function on the netbook because of compatibility issues, but Skytone is working to solve those problems and expects to have a market-ready product by the summer, according to Computerworld. The news comes after Computerworld’s Seth Weintraub last week came across the Alpha 680 on the Skytone Website.
The Alpha 680 is notable not only for its Android OS but also the ARM11 processor, which could put the Alpha 680 in the sub-$200 price range. ARM may be a relatively unknown name to you, but ARM chips are popular among mobile device manufacturers because ARM chips use less energy and are cheaper, while still delivering adequate processing power. You can find ARM chips in many well-known mobile devices, including iPhones and iPods. One Laptop Per Child’s upcoming XO-2 may also use ARM chips to improve power efficiency over the x86 processor found in OLPC’s XO laptop designed for children in the developing world.
The Android-powered Alpha 680 first made a public appearance earlier this month at an electronics trade show in Hong Kong before Weintraub discovered it online. However, before you get too excited, it’s possible the Alpha 680 may never make an appearance in U.S. stores. Skytone doesn’t actually manufacture anything, but merely licenses its product designs to manufacturers. HP, Asus and others are already rumored to be coming out with their own Android netbooks in the near future and those will undoubtedly have more power than Skytone’s Alpha 680.
However, co-founder Nixon Wu says that suits Skytone just fine. Wu told Computerworld that Skytone’s goal, similar to that of OLPC’s, is to “bring low-cost computing to the “80 percent of the world that can’t afford it today” and that his product should not be compared to those of manufacturers that cater to the Western market. Skytone is focused on bringing computing to less affluent parts of the world that still need access to the Web, so having enough power for tasks like “watching TV over the Internet is not the most urgent thing.” Without enough power and raging competition from Windows netbooks, the Alpha 680 would most likely find itself outmatched anyway.
The real issue surrounding the Alpha 680 for American consumers is the breaking of the Android-in-netbooks barrier. With the imminent release of the first Android netbook and major manufacturers expected to produce their own Android-powered models, the question is: How will this affect a market where Windows XP is currently the netbook OS king? There has been speculation that Google’s Linux-based Android could be a real threat to Windows XP and the upcoming Windows 7 on netbooks. However, even for Google, unseating Windows from the netbook market will be no easy feat. As was pointed out in this week’s PC World podcast, right now several Linux flavors can be found on netbooks, but those netbooks are usually only about $50 cheaper than comparable Windows machines and are typically harder to use than the more familiar Microsoft interface. There are some exceptions to that, such as Ubuntu, but Google’s Android OS will have to overcome high expectations from everyday users if it wants to rival Windows
Apple Doesn’t Get Netbooks? Too Bad
No wonder everyone is pining for Steve Jobs to return to Apple. Other executives at the company don’t seem to grasp future product trends.
The company’s chief operating officer on Wednesday lashed out at netbooks, calling them unusable due to their cramped keyboards, “junky” hardware and bad software.
“It’s a stretch to call them a personal computer,” said Tim Cook during Apple’s fiscal second-quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday.
He suggests people buy an iPhone or iPod touch instead. Since he’s the No. 2 guy at Apple, it suggests his comments reflect those of the entire management team.
And if that’s what Apple thinks of netbooks, it’s an odd way to view one of the hottest new product categories around.
Netbooks fill a gap the iPhone and iPod touch don’t cover. They have bigger screens better for Web viewing, 8.9-inches to 12-inches, and keyboards for easy typing.
In fact, the global market for mini-laptops is expected to grow 43.2 percent per year on average, reaching 70.1 million units by 2013, according to market researcher Gartner.
So say what you want, Apple, but those numbers suggest a powerful product trend. And it’s about to get even more interesting.
Forthcoming netbooks will be built using mobile phone chips and parts rather than traditional computing components, and that will make a big difference. They’ll be among the most portable notebook-like devices ever.
On the software side, netbooks running Google’s Android software will hit world markets over the next several months.
By being built with mobile phone components, such as chips with ARM processing cores, the new netbooks will offer two advantages over current ones: power efficiency and cost.
They will offer longer battery life because mobile phone components have always been built with battery life in mind, unlike PC components, which were born from a plugged-in point of view and have been modified over the past several years for better energy efficiency.
They will also be less expensive to make, preserving the profit margins many companies worry about with netbooks.
Apple doesn’t want a piece of that action?
Google and Microsoft will be glad to hear that.
Google can ride the netbook trend and potentially gain a bigger share of the mobile software market with Android, while Android Market can take a bite out of the Apple’s App Store.
The Internet search giant can also use netbooks to connect more people to its Web sites, such as YouTube or Google Docs, its online offering of word processing, presentation, form and spreadsheet programs.
The network will truly become the computer, as Sun Microsystems used to say. Or in more modern terms, the Cloud for consumers will have arrived.
Even Microsoft, which has not shown Apple’s savvy for new products in recent years, has been working hard in netbooks. Windows 7 is supposed to be a great leap forward for netbooks, and the next version of Windows Mobile, which will also be called Windows 7, has been billed as perfect for netbooks.
Of course, yesterday’s comments by the Apple executive may have been a head fake.
There have been rumors of an Apple netbook for a while, and companies in Taiwan say an Apple device with a 10-inch screen is on the way.
But what if Apple truly has no interest in the netbook market?
That would be too bad.
A mini-notebook with Apple’s iPhone OS 3.0 software that linked to a spruced up MobileMe Web site with more online Apple software would probably be a hi
Apple Doesn’t Get Netbooks? Too Bad.
No wonder everyone is pining for Steve Jobs to return to Apple. Other executives at the company don’t seem to grasp future product trends.
The company’s chief operating officer on Wednesday lashed out at netbooks, calling them unusable due to their cramped keyboards, “junky” hardware and bad software.
“It’s a stretch to call them a personal computer,” said Tim Cook during Apple’s fiscal second-quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday.
He suggests people buy an iPhone or iPod touch instead. Since he’s the No. 2 guy at Apple, it suggests his comments reflect those of the entire management team.
And if that’s what Apple thinks of netbooks, it’s an odd way to view one of the hottest new product categories around.
Netbooks fill a gap the iPhone and iPod touch don’t cover. They have bigger screens better for Web viewing, 8.9-inches to 12-inches, and keyboards for easy typing.
In fact, the global market for mini-laptops is expected to grow 43.2 percent per year on average, reaching 70.1 million units by 2013, according to market researcher Gartner.
So say what you want, Apple, but those numbers suggest a powerful product trend. And it’s about to get even more interesting.
Forthcoming netbooks will be built using mobile phone chips and parts rather than traditional computing components, and that will make a big difference. They’ll be among the most portable notebook-like devices ever.
On the software side, netbooks running Google’s Android software will hit world markets over the next several months.
By being built with mobile phone components, such as chips with ARM processing cores, the new netbooks will offer two advantages over current ones: power efficiency and cost.
They will offer longer battery life because mobile phone components have always been built with battery life in mind, unlike PC components, which were born from a plugged-in point of view and have been modified over the past several years for better energy efficiency.
They will also be less expensive to make, preserving the profit margins many companies worry about with netbooks.
Apple doesn’t want a piece of that action?
Google and Microsoft will be glad to hear that.
Google can ride the netbook trend and potentially gain a bigger share of the mobile software market with Android, while Android Market can take a bite out of the Apple’s App Store.
The Internet search giant can also use netbooks to connect more people to its Web sites, such as YouTube or Google Docs, its online offering of word processing, presentation, form and spreadsheet programs.
The network will truly become the computer, as Sun Microsystems used to say. Or in more modern terms, the Cloud for consumers will have arrived.
Even Microsoft, which has not shown Apple’s savvy for new products in recent years, has been working hard in netbooks. Windows 7 is supposed to be a great leap forward for netbooks, and the next version of Windows Mobile, which will also be called Windows 7, has been billed as perfect for netbooks.
Of course, yesterday’s comments by the Apple executive may have been a head fake.
There have been rumors of an Apple netbook for a while, and companies in Taiwan say an Apple device with a 10-inch screen is on the way.
But what if Apple truly has no interest in the netbook market?
That would be too bad
Is This Really the First Google Android Netbook?
Certainly this can’t be it. The first Google Android netbook should certainly be more monumental than this $100 device from SkyTone. Guanzhou, China-based Skytone is famous for making Skype headsets and ultra low cost children’s computers. But, as of today, they have on their website, the Alpha-680 Google Android netbook. In Pink, Yellow, Red, Black and White.
While this device is going to be extremely cheap, it does have some redeeming qualities. It looks to have a flip around touch screen and a gaming pad built in. And this thing does have Wifi, Ethernet, 3G, USB Ports and an SD card slot in a $100 package.
The specs overall are anemic, even for a $100 Netbook.
This is just a glorified cellphone…without the glory. Its build quality also looks extremely low end. However, with Skytone’s Skype heritage, at least it will be able to function as a Skype phone.
I’d like to see a better processor, more RAM and more local storage. I guess the SD card slot is means enough to put in 32GB more Flash storage if desired. And as long as this thing runs a browser over WiFi, it is hard to complain about a $100 device. Worst case scenario, you can give it to a child to play with.
SkyTone isn’t the only Android Netbook game in town either, they are just first to announce. Plenty of others are planned, namely Pegatron’s Freescale based netbook. There is also the i-Buddie prototyple (although this is based on Intel Atom).
I am personally hoping to see more exciting ARM Netbook products to come out over the next few months, even perhaps a device from App
No Apple Netbook Yet? Hack Your Own MacBook ‘Cloud’
So I’m pretty excited about today’s post. Dan Nystedt says Apple doesn’t get netbooks. Probably true, but I think Apple should skip to cloudbooks. Last week I set myself up with a bad, bad new $200 MacBook Cloud. Sound too good to be true? It is indeed hard fact. More importantly, I’m going to share the secret sauce so you can get yourself one of these fabulous devices.
So what’s a cloudbook? A notebook optimized for using cloud services, of course.
[ Read Dan Nystedt's post on why Apple may miss out on the biggest device trend since the smartphone because, absent Steve Jobs, other execs don't seem to grasp future product trends ]
For me, this started when a buddy showed me his Hacintosh. He had picked up a used, non-Apple laptop for about $300 and installed Mac OS X on it. If you’re an Apple fan or a Darwin project participant, you’re well aware of this possibility. The Gizmodo guys upped the stakes in February when they hackintoshed a Dell Mini 9 into what they called “the Ultimate OS X Netbook.”
For the record, the instructions they posted absolutely rock, and it’s incredibly easy to create one of these yourself. I love my Gizmodo peeps, but may I be so bold as to suggest a small improvement: Why stop with a netbook when you could have a MacBook Cloud? I didn’t think it would be too hard to take this hack to the next level by taking advantage of some cloud services.
I grabbed a Dell Mini 9 off a friend and got to work. No rocket science involved. A couple of add-ons later, I had a sweet little machine that I’m happier with than any computer I’ve ever owned. I had a little jolt of inspiration when I saw my buddy’s Mini 9 running Mac OS X. Why not finally use that silly MobileMe cloud-synchronization account I bought from Apple? Seriously, I like being able to share contacts across my machines, but outside of that the service was damn near useless. My idea was to modify the OS to send only safe files to me.com (MobileMe’s address). I travel a lot and sometimes go to some pretty sketchy places, so I figured a cloudbook that cost me $200 and is incapable of saving personal data to its local hard drive would be the ultimate travel solution.
Think about that. You’re traveling with your new MacBook Cloud, which potentially cost less than your cell phone, and your machine is lost/stolen/missing/whatever. Are you worrying about the sensitive data you’re working on? Nope. Your data is still safe and accessible. Are you upset about the 200 bones? Probably, but that number pales in comparison to most business notebooks and isn’t even in the same ballpark with losing your secret plans for world domination. Are you worried about someone hacking your password? Not even. Just log into your me.com account and change the password. Ta-da! You’ve now taken a potentially disastrous experience and eliminated all the risk for $200. You wouldn’t even break a sweat if customs confiscated it on your way back into the country
