Mark Spoonauer has posted an extensive interview revolving around the HP 2133 Mini-Note with the Mini-Note’s product manager, Kyle Thornton, and it includes their view on the competition in the netbook/subnotebook market. Kyle makes it clear that education was originally the number one target audience, but that consumers/travelers are making themselves known. He also mentions the upcoming competition with Dell and Acer in the 8.9-inch market.
One of the most interesting things is the size of the market – he sees it as somewhere between the 3-million to 10-million that various groups and companies are predicting.
Some select excerpts:
Has consumer interest in the Mini-Note met your expectations thus far?
Honestly, the reaction has been beyond our expectations. It has far exceeded the most similar type of response in our history, which was the launch of the iPAQ. All the worldwide press coverage has surpassed the iPAQ reaction.
Update #2 – May 28, 2008 – The Dell 500 is not the machine you were looking for. The 8.9-inch Dell Sub-notebook is referred to as the