Netbooks are dead. Next of kin: Internet Tablets

by Wayne Hemrick

Netbooks are dead, they just don't know it yet. Back in their heyday a few short months ago (an eternity ago in the world of tech gadgets and before the birth of the "beloved" iPad internet tablet) netbooks were small, nifty, and were the talk of all the Best Buy showrooms around the country. Remember those miniature sized laptops with a microscopic 8.9 inch screen that lacked a CD/DVD drive and had a keyboard that loved to cramp up most peoples' hands? Some of the freakish giant ones had "huge" 10 inch screens. Is this ringing a bell yet? They were bargain priced at somewhere between $250 to $500. Yeah, those. They are like, so 2009.
Did all their batteries die or did their popularity simply die instead? What happened to their reign? Computing devices are notorious for short life spans, but the netbook seems to be especially short lived. What took their place in the spotlight?
internet tablet are now stealing the show - or more appropriately in this case, the showroom. Whether you choose to call them a touch screen tablet or an Android tablet, you will clearly see their prominent presence in tech stores throughout the United States and around the world. The steadfast popularity of the touch screen tablet is spreading faster than the hopeful netbook had ever dreamed of.
Tech companies such as Apple, Archos, HP, and Asus (and plenty of others) are quickly emerging with newly designed touch screen tablets left and right. Archos seems to have deeply rooted leverage in this sector of computing as they have five new cutting edge android tablet being released soon. Strike while the iron is hot, right?
Not all of the devices classified as an internet tablet can appropriately be called an Android tablet since obviously not all of them run the Android operating system. All of the new internet tablets from Archos will run the latest version of Android as will several others by other companies.
The Apple iPad, HP Slate, and Archos' many Android-based internet tablets are evolving into the next big thing with computing connoisseurs who gleefully snub their noses at the lowly netbook. The iPad which has a larger marketing budget than the GDP of a small country is especially popular, so maybe it will reign as king of tablets, but only time will tell for sure.
The weak processing speed of netbooks has made people instantly reach out for a better solution for portable computing. The answer? touchscreen tablet. These days, people want small, fast, and functional - and they wanted it yesterday. As a result, the typical touch screen tablet seems to fit the bill for them. So netbooks had a good short run but will ultimately just be a footnote in history. Rest in peace netbooks, it's been real.