Cellular Netbooks Are Downright Cheap

Is most of your computing done on the run? If so, you may be interested in a computer that's optimized for mobile use. That's one of the new netbooks with built-in 3G cellular Internet access.

What's so special about the netbook computer? After all, laptops aren't all THAT big and they do a nice job at the coffee shop.

Sure they do. In fact, if there were no netbooks a laptop with a wireless modem aircard would do the same job. Well, if you don't mind lugging a big padded bag with a big heavy computer with more stuff inside than you really need.

Mobile computing is what netbooks are optimized for. They're about half the size and weight of a standard laptop computer. They have much larger screens than smartphones and full QWERTY keyboards with decent size keys. That puts them a step above smartphones and messaging centric cell phones when it comes to Internet access. They also have hard disk drives, fast processors and enough RAM to run a standard operating system. Two popular models run Windows XP Home Edition.

What netbooks don't have is CD ROM or DVD drives. They're optimized for operation on the Internet, not running sophisticated image manipulation software or playing DVD movies. You can get your multimedia experience online, as needed. Because they're Internet machines, netbooks are gravitating toward having built-in 3G cellular wireless connectivity to augment the standard WiFi access.

What 3G wireless gives you is the ability to use your computer on the Internet wherever you happen to be. Cellular towers transmit both voice and data signals. The wireless modem aircards in netbooks pick up only the data signals, so they are not useful as cell phones. But they will let you browse the web and send email while parked in your car, on the bus or at a client's place of business. Ready to close an order? Pull out your netbook and enter it online while sitting next to the customer.

If you want to buy a netbook, you'll find them priced less than laptops but still in the $300 to $600 range. You can get your netbook for a fraction of that by ordering it along with a cellular data plan. How cheap? How about $49.99 for an Acer Aspire One bundled with a 2 year AT&T 3G wireless plan. The carrier subsidizes the cost of the netbook just like they do on cell phones. You need to commit to a 5 GB monthly data plan for $60 per month.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans. You can also buy these machines without a data plan for more money and simply use the WiFi connectivity in hotspots.

If you would rather have a smartphone or other cell phone with Internet access, such as a BlackBerry, check out the free and low cost options available at Cell Phone Plans Finder right now.

Google's Plan To Chew Up Microsoft

A recent story in the Wall Street Journal offers a clue as to where Google is headed next. It's coming for you, Microsoft.

Actually, Google's ultimate ambition might be far more expansive that even an unseating of Microsoft as undisputed owner of the PC operating system space. The secret dream may be a complete domination of all devices with embedded computers. That's pretty much everything there is electronic, isn't it?

The news that suggests Google is moving beyond controlling the information search environment and looking to run the whole machine is that PC makers, including Hewlett-Packard, are testing Google's Android operating system for use in netbook products. Up until now, Android has been seen as an operating system for mobile phones. Something that runs a cellphone can't possibly pose a threat to the massive and entrenched PC operating systems, can it?

Perhaps it can. If it does, it will happen in a similar way to how Microsoft unseated the computing giants IBM, DEC, Data General, Control Data and others to become the big name in business computing, and wiped the slate clean of all competitors, save Apple, in personal computing. What Bill Gates did that was both prescient and game altering was to become the PC operating system provider to IBM at a time when PCs didn't seem much of a threat to the status quo. Only in hindsight can we say, "they should have seen it coming."

The key is in the timing. Microsoft established itself at the inflection point where personal computers were poised to take over the corporate desktop from dumb terminals and become an affordable data processing solution for small and home businesses. Now that the standards of business and personal computing primarily revolve around Microsoft Windows, there's a massive barrier to entry for anyone who seeks to offer an alternative.

We are nearing such an inflection point again. You see the "clouds" gathering - literally. Computing is poised to move off the desktop and onto the Internet, with software as a service rather than a product. There's really no reason you need to do processing or storage locally. It's a matter of becoming convinced that the reliability, security, performance and price make the cloud computer a better alternative to the personal computer.

The netbook, more than the smartphone, represents a move to this new business model. Although, the day may not be far off when the line between computer and phone is so blurred you really can't tell the difference. For some early adopters, the Apple iPhone is well down that path. Netbooks seek to give you a cheap, lightweight, and small mobile computer without losing the power of the computer. They do that by moving functionality online so that they can shed things like CD drives, power sucking high performance processors, and massive hard drives.

The client-server model stopped the move to decentralized computing in major corporations years ago. Cloud services pretty much extend that model beyond the corporate walls by using the Internet as a LAN replacement. As business WAN bandwidth becomes cheaper, there's really no reason why netbooks, and perhaps the desktop equivalent of thin clients, can't become the new standard. Of course that can't happen overnight... or can it?

Will Cell Phones Replace Laptop Computers?

The laptop computer has grown to replace the yellow legal pad as the key mobile business tool. But laptop computers may be on the way out too. They are big, heavy and power hungry. By comparison, a 7 oz. legal pad that tucks under your arm and never needs charging starts to look pretty attractive again. The move is on to find mobile processing that has the right speed and connectivity without all the heft. Could the end result actually wind up being a cell phone?

The idea of the cell phone that does everything is compelling. Most everyone is carrying a cell phone these days. That gives you voice communications for sure. But data communications has been infiltrating the cellular world for years. It started simply enough as SMS text messaging. Then came built-in email and, finally, full HTML Web browsers.

The BlackBerry device is a perfect example of a cellular phone fine-tuned for business applications. It typically sports a good size display screen and a full QWERTY keyboard located just below the screen in a chunky candybar package. The key development that made BlackBerry the darling of corporate America is the secure "push" email service offered by RIM. Most BlackBerry devices also have the ability to read Microsoft Office documents and PDF attachments to email messages.

The BlackBerry Storm advances the technology by going with a touch screen and virtual keyboard that includes tactile feedback. The idea behind the virtual keyboard is to save real estate on the phone so that it can be redeployed as a larger screen size. A bigger screen makes Web browsing and document reading easier. In fact, at screen sizes of 3 inches diagonal or so, the phone display becomes something akin to a very small computer display.

The touch screen smartphone may well be the next generation of integrated telephone-computer mobile technology. Samsung is pressing this direction with models such as the Instinct, Delve, Behold, and Glyde. LG is competing with its Vu, Shine, and Voyager models.

What has really kick-started the smartphone revolution is the ready availability of cellular broadband service. The large carriers AT&T and Verizon have been in a frenzy to upgrade their tower sites to enable broadband data speeds of typically 700 Kbps download with bursts to twice that and, in some cases, several Mbps bandwidth. That's fast enough to easily access today's business websites and use Internet-based applications. Video downloads also become practical at broadband speeds.

But some users are frustrated by having to choose between a 7 lb laptop and a 3 oz cell phone. They would really like something in-between. That's the void being filled by notebook and netbook computers. Both are much smaller than the traditional 12 to 15 inch laptop screen size - perhaps half that. They also chuck such size and weight boosting accessories as floppy drives or even CD / DVD drives. Do you really need these while out on business calls?

Some netbooks are now coming with cellular broadband connectivity built-in rather than needing a separate aircard. You buy a data only plan from the appropriate carrier and you have connectivity in your car or at a client's office. No need to search out WiFi hotspots in restaurants or hotels, the mainstay of laptop Internet service. The other coming netbook development is the touchscreen tablet form factor. These will essentially look like large smartphones. They may even have voice capability via VoIP, but you'll wind up using a headset as you'll look a bit silly holding a netbook up to your ear.

This year is likely to see a technology battle between traditional portable computers and smartphones for mobile supremacy. Right now it looks like smartphones are going to proliferate but netbook computers may as well. After all, each has its usability advantages.

Can Wireless Broadband Displace DSL and Cable?

What's allowed broadband to displace dial-up Internet access has been wireline technologies. For consumers, they are DSL and Cable broadband. For businesses, add T1 lines. But now there's a new contender that might just do to wireline broadband what wireline broadband did to dial-up. That contender is wireless.

Sure, WISPs or Wireless Internet Service Providers have been around for years without mounting too much of a threat to either the telephone or cable companies. That's because they tend to be scattered few and far between, with very small service footprints. Business wireless Internet access is mostly centered in the dense downtown areas of major cities. Consumer wireless has mostly targeted rural subdivisions where housing is dense enough to offer serious revenue potential but beyond where DSL and cable service exists.

One wireless service that has been somewhat prolific has been two-way satellite Internet service. You find dishes atop many gas stations, restaurants, car dealerships, and chain stores. These are there to support Point of Sale operations and communications back to the head office. Consumers also use two-way satellite Internet, but have been slower to adopt it than satellite television.

The newer competition that actually may have the muscle to carve out a significant chunk of the broadband market is based on cellular technologies. All of the major cell phone carriers also offer data service. But it's only within the last year or two that broadband speeds have been available to a majority of the service area. Right now there are two competing systems. They are EDGE offered by AT&T and EV-DO offered by Verizon, Alltel and Sprint. Both offer similar speeds of approximately 700 Kbps. That's similar to many DSL services and not that much below the actual speed you get with Cable during periods of heavy usage.

Cellular broadband is popular for road warriors and business users who tend to be out of the office and around town with their laptop and notebook computers. It costs about double what the consumer broadband services do and runs on cellular frequencies which have limited ability to penetrate buildings. The advent of smartphones such as the Apple iPhone and BlackBerry Storm is making cellular broadband more of a must-have option. The other new trend is toward netbooks, much smaller and lighter notebook computers that may have cellular broadband connectivity built-in.

WiFi is the true wireless service for the masses. It is now built-into nearly every laptop and notebook PC and some cell phones and even gaming consoles. Free WiFi is available in most hotels and many restaurants. It's also the home networking solution of choice. But WiFi still needs a wireline service to feed it and has a service radius of only a few hundred feet.

WiFi on steroids is how WiMAX is sometimes described, although it is a completely different technology and requires its own aircard. WiMAX has a service radius measured in kilometers and speeds measured in Mbps. In the 700 MHz band, it can easily penetrate buildings and provide home or office broadband service without the need for an outside antenna.

The competitor to WiMAX will soon be LTE, a cellular broadband standard that also offers cable Internet speeds of a few Mbps or more. It is also expected to be built-out using the 700 MHz frequencies auctioned off from the shutdown of analog television.

WiMAX and LTE will likely displace EV-DO and EDGE somewhere down the road. Both are just starting deployment, with only a few cities expected to be up and running this year. But will they obsolete DSL and cable broadband? Not for a long time. These technologies are well entrenched with sunk costs and the ability to offer lower pricing and higher speeds as competition develops. Wireless will probably grow on its own for users who are increasingly mobile. The real threat to wireline services is coming from fiber optic service that can offer speeds an order of magnitude or two above wireline bandwidths. But, then again, isn't fiber just a glass version of traditional wireline?