Stan Beer
Thursday, 02 April 2009 15:40
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
The other point
to consider is that Windows XP is included in the price of the IdeaPad
S10e. So how does that work, given Lenovo does not sell the machine
without an OS? Which costs more, a Lenovo OEM license or the DET volume
license?
We also know that the netbooks will carry some
pretty damned expensive Adobe software - Flash, Photoshop Elements,
Dreamweaver and so on.
The figure of $25.5 million for the
software - Adobe and Microsoft - has been
reported in Australian IT.
We're not sure if that's accurate but we have no reason to disbelieve
it.
OK so let's do the sums. About 260,000 notebooks given to
students and teachers a year for the next three years times $600 plus
$25.5 million times three and we end up with about $545 million.
Of
course, we're talking about computers so there's not a chance in hell
that next year's netbook from Lenovo is going to be the same as this
year's model.
Weve already seen a rise in price of netbooks in the past year as they become more sophisticated.
The top of the range diskless Eee PC costs $899 while you can pick up
the original model for less than $200. There's nothing to say that the
successor to IdeaPad S10e will be available at the same price as
today's model.
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