The 1980s Netbook
Submitted by srlinuxx on Sat, 10/18/2008 - 09:59.
Think bad hair and worse fashion. Think IBM Compatible Personal Computers. Think British. Yes, the eighties are back as Apricot Computers is reborn with the launch of, you guessed it, a Netbook.
Starting life way back in 1965 as Applied Computer Techniques, ACT changed name to Apricot Computers in the eighties during which time they became one of the best known computing brands in the UK.
But now, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Apricot is back under new ownership and has repositioned itself as a manufacturer of "ultra mobile personal computers" or Netbooks to you and me.
Not quite pocket computer turned pocket netbook form factor ?
There are rumours of several netbook manufacturers turning to cellphone or smartphone pico netbooks. Rumours of ultra low core voltages and Polaroid paper Lithium batteries?
The form factor is exciting because of Timex and Sinclair of years past. Big names or big money might back such pico netbooks for $79/$1000 each. 7 inch by 3.5/4 inch form factor can be a little more than smart phones. The killer software would be middleware to look at profitability of business deals on the net. Shipments can be done via government post offices by using 24 hour postal machines.
More than a calculator they use in Asia or elsewhere, to show customers what price they are willing to bargain for? But it(barcode scanner by camera) will give the businesses their total profits at the end of a day. Email customers their receipts(CRM=customer retention management program or gadget); email book keeping software for accounting records. Pico netbooks will be great for portable/movable mobile point of sales computers.
So, in a few months, we will see the economy turned around on a few new pico netbook product lines?