R.I.P. Netbook: Mobile Computing Evolves, But MacBook Air Success Proves There’s Life In The Clamshell Notebook Yet

PCWorld’s Tony Bradley observes that the netbook helped catalyze the move to mobile computing, and the exodus from the traditional office desk to a new “compute anywhere” model. Actually that transition was already well underway in the Mac universe long before netbooks came on the scene, but netbooks facilitated catchup on the Windows side. However, Bradley suggests that the netbook has more or less run its course, and is being replaced by even more versatile mobile computing platforms, noting that smartphones and netbooks were in a competition for the future of mobile computing, but the netbook has already pretty much maxed out its functionality and capabilities, while smartphones, and now tablets as well, are just getting started.

True, I think, but Apple sold a reported 1.1 million redesigned MacBook Air laptops in less than three months, including many netbook-sized 11.6” models, so there appears to be plenty of life left in ultralight clamshell notebooks yet, at least if they’re Macs, although I anticipate continued convergence of the Apple Mac OS and iOS worlds in portable computing moving forward.