Google Chrome OS - an Android in the making?
Google gave us a good first look at its Chrome operating system today. It has some interesting features, but is far from finished - the first devices using it are still a year away.
Google’s ambitions for Chrome also seem modest at present - it will run on low-specification netbooks. But everyone seemed to have low expectations for Google’s other OS - Android - when it was launched last year, and look at it now. Continue reading "Google Chrome OS - an Android in the making?"
John Gapper: Little laptops snap at the oligopoly
The FT’s John Gapper says the most influential piece of personal technology to emerge in recent years did not come from Apple, Amazon or Research in Motion. Instead, he points to the Asustek’s Asus Eee PC, which created the category now known as “netbooks”.
Few analysts grasped the significance of the Eee because they did not think that people in the developed world would buy a not-very-powerful device with a tiny screen and a small keyboard. Meanwhile, US companies from Dell to Microsoft and Apple gazed studiously elsewhere.
Yet, nearly two years on, evidence of the Eee’s influence is everywhere, from the weak outlook reported by Dell this week to Google’s announcement that it will build a rival to Windows in its Chrome OS operating system, and Microsoft’s move to offer a free web version of its Office software suite.
The FT’s Lex column says the netbooks segment should not be overhyped just because it is the only area of growth for the PC industry in a recession:
Light and, above all, cheap, netbooks are useful for casual travellers and children who are more likely to break or lose a computer and can live with less processing power. Business users, who buy half the world’s laptops, will still want something more capable.
Microsoft shunning Arm-based netbooks
Look out for a new range of lower-cost netbooks this year using Arm-based processors rather than Intel’s Atom chip…but don’t expect to see any of them running Windows.
Linux, yes, Google’s Android operating system, quite possibly, but Microsoft is not yet supporting the new devices, which is something of an irritation to Warren East, Arm chief executive. Continue reading "Microsoft shunning Arm-based netbooks"
The opposite of netbooks
@CES, Las Vegas - What are the opposite of small, cheap, modestly powered netbooks for the masses?
How about big, expensive, high-end PCs for gamers?
If netbook sales are going to grow 80 per cent in 2009, according to Consumer Electronics Association forecasts, as consumers become more budget-conscious in a recession, does this mean sales of $4,000 to 6,000 PCs will plummet? Continue reading "The opposite of netbooks"
David Gelles, Joseph Menn, Chris Nuttall and Richard Waters in the FT's San Francisco bureau upload their views - plus tech insights from writers in New York, London and Tokyo
FT Techblog's comments
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
David Gelles, a California native, has been hanging around and reporting on Silicon Valley for several years. He joined the FT's San Francisco bureau in 2008 and writes about social networking, clean tech and artificial intelligence.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is facinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Joseph Menn writes about tech security and privacy, digital media, and the computer industry from the San Francisco bureau. He spent a decade covering tech for the Los Angeles Times and therefore remembers the days when pre-revenue dot-coms handed out free bottles of champagne at their launch parties.
Robin Harding is the FT's technology correspondent in Tokyo, following the fortunes of Japan's videogame, semiconductor and consumer electronics companies. Before that, he was an FT editorial writer in London, having previously worked for various banks and asset managers.
Robin Kwong is the FT's Taipei correspondent and writes about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent. Based in London, he has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
Selected FT blog posts
Back to Tech Blog homepage
The latest gadgets and gizmos, reviewed by Jonathan Margolis in How To Spend It.
Paul Taylor, the FT’s personal technology expert, answers your gadgetry questions