What Chromebook can learn from Apple II, Netbooks and iPad?

Chromebook is Google's foray into yet another end-consumer device. It is to laptops what Android is to Mobiles. Relatively inexpensive, the attempt is to provide a truly cloud based device which is running Chrome OS as its operating system. The devices are designed to be used primarily while connected to the Internet, with most applications and data residing "in the cloud". No prizes for guessing who provides the 'cloud' and why?

But does Chromebook really sound like a 'new' idea? Or even a good one at that? Where will it succeed where most before it have faltered? Or will it?

Before we start, just two quick facts:

1. In Amazon's "Best Sellers in Laptop Computers" - Four of the top ten positions including the top position, are occupied by a Chromebook
2. In last quarter more than a million Chromebooks have been sold to schools across America

Here we trace some parallel events in the history of personal computing to try and document potential pitfalls that Chromebook should avoid, if it wants to emulate fraction of the success that the search engine of its parent company enjoys.

Apple II (& Macintosh) - Know your target market

Similar to Chromebook Apple II (and Macintosh after that) traced their runaway success to widespread adoption in schools and academia. The reason is simple. Most people develop their lifetime habits and preferences in late teens and early twenties. Capturing the imagination of such an impressionable generation ensures long term success for both the product and the company. However, this is also one of the most price sensitive market segments. Most people in this age group take out education loans or work part-time to make ends meet. Affordability is a key metric. Apple II andMacintosh are testimonial to that, while Lisa (another line of computer by Apple) failed despite being launched around the same time due to its hefty price tag which its target market could not afford.

Here, I am not prescribing a pricing strategy. All I am saying is that if mass adoption is the key to the long term success of a product strategy (which seems to be Google's philosophy for all its products), then it must be reasonably priced. Dell is yet another example of low prices resulting in widespread adoption, albeit in the corporate world.

Google slashing its prices, seems to substantiate my point. (May be it should sponsor the OLPC project.)

NetBooks - Deliver on the promise

Similar to Chromebook, Netbooks were the cloud devices launched in 2007 and officially stopped production by most manufacturers by 2012. The main reason for their failure was their inability to deliver on the promise (I am a proud owner of one of these ill-promised devices). Although, termed the netbook, they were really not that cloud oriented. They came with slow Intel Atom processors, with smaller memories and hard-disks, no optical drives, questionable battery life and no real applications on the cloud.

A true cloud device should offer both storage and processing on the cloud with local processing power to optimize and enhance the user experience. It should be feather light and a battery life surpassing all its peers. The Chromebook aims to do just that. So far, so good...

iPad - Ecosystem

And now for learning from the ultimate in end-user computing hardware - the iPad. iPad was not the first tablet or the best tablet (argumentative) but easily the most useful tablet. Unlike Kindle before that which was uni-functional or plethora of Microsoft's myriad attempts (including Tablet PC and Surface), iPad came with an ecosystem. An ecosystem of iTunes which allowed for hundreds of apps, thousands of books and millions of games, songs, movies and videos. Built for the ultimate user experience, it was easily a one-stop shop for a most unique form of entertainment and learning device.

This is another area where the Chrome OS (and its coupling with Android) can help the Chromebook.

Best fit - iPad for Enterprise

In conclusion, I see Chromebooks to be the ultimate office device of the future - theiPad for Enterprise. Unlike the iPad which is difficult or tedious to handle for office tasks like program management, spreadsheets, making power-point presentations, writing rich-formatted lengthy emails and editing documents, Chromebook can easily fill that void. Armed with a full function keypad and a much larger screen, it can easily replace the Dells in the office and education space. With Google docs and Gmail now powering a significant number of small, medium and even some large enterprises, Chromebook is ideally positioned to replace laptops and in tandem with Android phones and Google Cloud, herald the new age of Enterprise Mobility.

Google can really own the next few years of Enterprise computing with its cloud infrastructure, android phones, Chromebook, Google docs, Gmail and of course Google search engine. All it needs are couple of really large organisations to pilot and implement its Chromebooks in their offices. And if it does end up getting a head start in this space, a giant like Google would be impossible to displace for any new entrant....And will Apple just wait and watch and be happy with just the consumer market?

Let's wait and watch how Google plays it and who comes in its way. Will it be Apple? or Dell? Or the grandfather of computing IBM itself? - The Enterprise Mobility space is all set for some major action... and I can't wait for it to start...