Abstract

Low-cost Notebook PCs to Mutate PC Consumption Attitudes

The launch of notebook PCs that cost only around US$100 can be viewed as destructive innovation. Besides upsetting the received wisdom in the IT sector regarding low-priced products, the introduction of these new products will also challenge consumers' preconceptions about PC cost and PC usage. Some consumers will adopt a wait-and-see attitude, on the assumption that notebook PC prices will continue to fall. Others will start to re-examine their own computing needs. PC vendors will try to leverage the new cost structure that low-cost notebook PCs offer to develop a wider range of product types, such as PCs used as gifts, toys, educational tools, and experimental equipment.

From the point of view of the Taiwanese IT sector, the most significant aspect of the low-cost notebook PC boom is the renewed opportunity for Taiwanese manufacturers to demonstrate their capabilities in the design and manufacturing of low-cost IT products. At the same time, low-cost notebook PCs also offer Taiwanese PC makers an opportunity to develop own-brand products that they can market all over the world. The impact on the Taiwanese IT industry will have both positive and negative sides, but on the whole, the increased PC penetration and promotion of new applications that the launch of the low-cost laptops will support should be of benefit to both consumers and manufacturers.

If the low-priced notebook PCs are a success, then this may stimulate a trend towards lower prices in other digital products, such as mobile phones, desktop PCs, game consoles, and mobile TV devices. However, there is no guarantee that all of these efforts will be successful. The development of the low-priced notebook PC is a product of unique market environments and application requirements; assuming that the low-priced notebook PC is successful, the replication of that success in other product categories will required careful planning and good judgment.

Low-cost Notebook PCs Bringing New Choice for Consumers

PCs and the Internet have come to occupy an important place in virtually every aspect of human life. In the past, the PC platforms available to ordinary consumers were basically limited to the desktop PC, the notebook PC, and the UMPC. Now, the streamlined US$100 desktop PC offers the consumer a new alternative. Consumers are now in a position to select different types of PC for different usage scenarios; just as people decide what clothes to wear before leaving home in the morning, they can now decide which type of PC they want to take with them today.

The desktop PC, notebook PC, UMPC, and MID all have their own strengths and weaknesses. The desktop PC offers the best price-performance ratio; notebook PCs are expensive, but they provide a comprehensive range of functions, and they are easy to use and readily portable, making them ideal for the mobile worker. UMPCs are compact and feature cutting-edge capabilities, but they are also very expensive, and not as convenient to use as a conventional notebook PC. The various types of MID that are now being developed are lightweight and inexpensive, but provide only a limited range of functions, and are difficult to operate. Low-priced notebook PCs cannot provide the same level of performance as a conventional notebook PC, but they are not significantly inferior to a UMPC or MID, and are much easier to use than either of these product types. Overall, the low-priced notebook PC has many attractive features that will make this new product category of interest to both manufacturers and consumers.

Appendix

List of Companies