Where's Netbook's niche?

>> Sumi: Hello, I'm Sumi Das for ZDNet, joining us now is our Editor in Chief Larry Digman, Larry thanks for being with us.

>> Larry: Anytime

>> Sumi: So there's been a bleak consumer spending holiday shopping outlook, it's all gloom and doom, right? But, there's a gadget that

had a really good cyber inaudible and has been selling rather well, you have it with you.

>> Larry: NetBooks, they're little baby laptops, essentially.

>> Sumi: It's cute.

>> Larry: Yeah, it is cute it's --

>> Sumi: So, what is it good for?

>> Larry: That's what I'm still trying to figure out. And what's scary is I actually bought one of these things --

>> Sumi: Yeah

>> Larry: and I own it and I'm still kind of thinking, okay, where does this fit in my arsenal of gadgets, so to speak. There are

tradeoffs and I think the biggest tradeoff for me is just the keyboard. I tried to do a blog post that didn't quite fly, my fingers

are just too fat for this thing. But for Web browsing it's pretty handy, but there are some serious tradeoffs here, and actually there

are ports for USB port for a keyboard and a port for a monitor.

>> Sumi: That's handy.

>> Larry: Chances are I'm probably gonna hook it up to a monitor and a regular keyboard and use it that way because it's just not --

it's not big enough.

>> Sumi: We've got a 10 inch screen here, right?

>> Larry: Yeah

>> Sumi: And so, that's a decent size.

>> Larry: Actually it's not it's a 9 inch.

>> Sumi: Okay, so 9 inches it's a decent size but at the same time I'm kind of with you if I'm not gonna use it as a -- it's not gonna

replace my Smartphone.

>> Larry: Yeah

>> Sumi: It's not gonna replace my laptop, so --

>> Larry: Why do I need it?

>> Sumi: when would I need it and why, yeah?

>> Larry: And that's what I'm still trying to figure out. Like, it has some key features like you have, ya know, Dell put a nice

dashboard on this where it's -- this is a Dell Mini, it's your Bunto phonetic, it's open source and, ya know, these little gadgets,

actually they're toys -- Toys R Us sells these things so they're almost toys, really.

>> Sumi: It looks like a toy; it looks like something I might give to a child.

>> Larry: And it kind of is, yeah, like my 6 year old looked at this but then she ran back to the MacBook. So I'm not sure --

>> Sumi: Even she rejected it.

>> Larry: Yeah, I'm not sure where the market is.

>> Sumi: But they're selling well?

>> Larry: They're selling well and I think the big question for me is just how they sell in the future. Like, I bought it as, ya know,

so I can have a laptop --

>> Sumi: curiosity

>> Larry: downstairs, I can check Fantasy scores, ya know, whatever.

>> Sumi: The important stuff.

>> Larry: Yeah, it's just a handy little thing to have lying around the kitchen. Some folks are gonna buy this thinking they're a

laptop replacement but they're not. So, I kind of wonder what happens in early 2009 when folks are looking at this and they're going,

alright, so, --

>> Sumi: It's not gonna take the place of my laptop.

>> Larry: Yeah, it's not gonna take the place of my Smartphone, so what do I do with this? Ya know, are we gonna have a bunch of

door-stops, or are they -- I mean my hunch is there is a market here and there is a need for something between a Smartphone and a

laptop but I'm looking forward to the, ya know, 2.0 version of these things because I think that'll be, ya know -- and maybe, you know --

>> Sumi: Do they need to be cheaper, I mean, what's the price point on something like this?

>> Larry: They run anywhere from like 250 to 500 bucks.

>> Sumi: Okay

>> Larry: So, ya know, it's -- the price is comparable to what you'd pay for a cell phone so I think it's gonna be interesting to see what the next version of these look like.

>> Sumi: Alright

>> Larry: I don't know if I'll run out and buy one next year or not, but.

>> Sumi: Okay Larry, thank you so much, we will keep an eye on the NetBook to see how it finds its way in the business. For more

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