AMD: The netbook category is all a bit of a blur

While AMD rolled out its future strategy for notebooks, the conversation turned to categories of PCs.

AMD believes that ultra thin notebooks to some extent cover the netbook category, but perhaps only a portion of it. The company thinks that the netbook comprises a small segment of the market and is basically used for web browsing and emails.

“Let’s get ready because it [the sector] is getting blurred,” said Leslie Sobon, worldwide VP product manager at AMD. “People shouldn’t buy off a term.”

The cynical might suggest that the reason AMD isn’t particularly enthused about the netbook category, which Intel essentially owns.

The point is, AMD says, that people should buy machines for a specific purpose. Often people buy the conventionally named netbooks because they are “cute”. But AMD reckons that a lot of these machines are returned when people find that they don’t do the job people want them to.

Retail store staff need to be trained so they don’t mis-sell products to people who are buying.  Cute doesn’t necessarily do it.