Tag Archives: Netbooks

Cell Phone Contracts – Are they Good for Indian Customers ?

Everything is going well in the Indian cellphone market, minus the news about scams on spectrum allocation.  Overall, I am happy with how we use cellphones, again, minus the customer service that sucks most of the time.

But, is there room for improvement ?

Can we boost smartphone usage, using cell phone contracts, like in other markets around the Globe ? Now, don’t ask me what is the use of increasing smartphone usage. I have only one reason, a lot of Indians, like me wants to use smartphones but they are not affordable.

With contracts, the service providers will give you phone at a subsidized rate, if you sign a contract with them to use their network for say, next 12 months or so. Service providers will get their profit with the increased usage of data and by many other channels while you are using their service. Well, this may include some evil methods too, I am not sure.  That is why I asked, do you think it is good for Indian customers.  I dint mean to ask, is evil good for Indian customers though ;)

This is not just cellphones, netbooks with 3G simcard included, to stay connected 24/7 are going to be the next big thing, pretty soon, and then there are tablets like iPad coming in. All these things will be affordable if Indian service providers consider this option .. but as an Indian customer, are you ready for this game ?

Android, You are a Smart Boy !!

Live Android Logo

Live Android Logo

Android is smarter than we thought. It was created for cellphones. Then we figured out that it will work on Laptops and netbooks too. Now, read this.

MIPS Technologies, a company which designs processors for various home entertainment devices, says it is working with partners to design Android-based platforms for set-top boxes, digital TVs, mobile Internet devices, and home media players. The company expects Android-powered digital picture frames to come to market later this year, followed by digital TVs and set-top boxes in 2010.  ( source )

So, that’s news indeed. We are going to see android running on digital photo frames, PDAs, and even TV set top boxes !! Well, I’m confused again … Chrome OS … Android for mobile .. and then android for laptops, and then they said chrome os on smart phones, now this. Where are we going ? Do you have any clue ?

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Will Android Bring Down Netbook and Laptop Prices ?

google android netbook laptop

google android netbook laptop

Android is being picked up by Laptop and Netbook manufacturing companies. We saw Dell testing Android on their netbooks, and Acer announcing an Android based netbook being developed. So, an important question that we need to find answer for is, about the future of prices for these android based Netbooks and Laptops.

What makes Netbooks popular ? Yes, small, light, compact etc .. agreed, but price is also a very important factor for their growing popularity. When the world started noticing netbooks coming, most of the geeks expected Linux making it big on Netbooks market. Well, it did,  to a large amount, and then Microsoft gained their space too, with their Windows XP running most of the netbooks. So, right now,  most of androids come with windows XP, and that adds a certain amount to their cost.

Netbooks can go further, if we can bring prices down, and the best way to do this, is to get rid of the additional cost of an Operating System. Now, not everyone will accept Linux on Netbooks, just because it is not windows, or it does not look like Windows. What’s the solution ?

My answer to this question, is Android. As mentioned on another blog post here about Android, google can be a motivation for people to try another OS, it will be a “feel good factor” for this open source OS, that it is from Google, the great.  With a free OS that’s popular, and easy to use, prices will come down, and more people can afford a Netbook, and I think that will be really good.