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iPad Killing Netbooks Already?
An interesting chart released from Morgan Stanley Research this morning shows that during the month of April - the month the iPad launched - netbook sales stalled. Did the iPad really have that much impact on an industry that was once the fastest-growing segment of the PC market? Or was the netbook's fall from grace bound to happen at some point, with or without the Apple tablet's help, as consumers discovered how hard it is to type on those tiny keyboards?
The netbook market saw incredible growth around this time last year. CNNMoney's Philip Elmer-DeWitt, who uncovered the chart in a research report about HP's acquisition of Palm, notes that netbook sales peaked last summer at "an astonishing 641% year-over-year growth rate."
But in January, coincidentally (or not?) the same month that Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the forthcoming tablet computer dubbed the iPad, netbook sales took a nose dive. But by nose dive, we mean they only saw 68% year-over-year growth during this time frame, the first month of the new year. That's not actually all that bad, is it? It only looks bad in comparison to the incredible numbers netbooks saw last summer.
But what's more telling is that the numbers continued to trend downwards since then: 53% in February, 25% in March and a meager 5% in April.
If the iPad had been available a few years ago I would have bought one instead of my netboook. I'm still tempted to get one....
I think market saturation and regular laptops being available for the same price or a little more are bigger factors.
I agree. I was looking at a netbook for the flights to CA, and got a full sized laptop for less. Sure it's a single core processor, but who cares? I'm playing iTunes, cruising the net, maybe streaming a movie, and once played a DVD. I don't need 3GHz Dual-core for that.
I though an iPad couldn't multitask? That would make a netbook a no-brainer for me. I want to be able to listen to Pandora while writing my report on how many questions we got asked at the desk this month.
What's the average file size of an "hour" episode from iTunes? My current iPod is a bit battered and I'm wondering about sizing a replacement. I don't currently store any video on it, but I could easily become addicted.
What's the average file size of an "hour" episode from iTunes?
High-def is about 1.4 GB (plus a lower-def version for the iPod will download as well). Regular def around 500 MB.
eta: An iPod version of a high-def file is about 630 MB.
Judging by what's in my iTunes library, about 500 MB is pretty typical, but it varies some (looking at purchased hour-long shows that are actually 45 minutes of video)
Hmm, thanks. That does make the 64GB iTouch a possibility. Before I'd only been thinking about the 160GB classic.
let me complicate your choices
I have a 32GB ipod touch (though, now I have a 32 GB iphone) and if you use AirVideo, you can stream video from your computer to your phone over wifi - which I have done not infrequently.
So if you have a reliable connection, don't try to pay all your money for extra storage, get the 32GB and stream what you can't fit.
get the 32GB and stream what you can't fit.
This would be for toting video around with me--I can stream any of the video in my house to my TiVo or Apple TV.
And my music is currently just about 28GB worth, so I'd be looking to go bigger than 32.
