Even though the netbook market has been slowing down for a while now, companies involved in this business have been selling a significant number of these products recently. But the demand for netbooks is dwindling. Even though, Intel beat its revenue estimates in the last quarter of 2011, the company’s ATOM processors are not exactly posting promising results. In fact, revenues of these processes has dropped 38 percent from the last quarter and 57 percent from last year. With the demand for netbooks slowing down, these are not surprising results by any means.

Netbooks will continue to be around for the time being. But their glory days are behind them.

The Cedar Trail processors are finally shipping. These new processors are small, compact, and offer better battery life. They are also quite affordable. The processors are expected to be adopted by HP, Lenovo, ASUS, and anyone who will be making netbooks  in 2012. The new design can handle 1080p playback much easier.  Systems based on these processors could potentially go for 10 hours on a single charge (and weeks in standby mode).

Cedar Trail supports Microsoft Windows, MeeGo, and Tizen. These processors will integrate GMA 3600 and 3650 chips. Intel’s Wireless Display and Wireless Music technologies  are also included in this new platform. The fact remains that many netbook makers are getting out of this business altogether. It will be interesting to see how many new netbook models will be based on this platform.

The PC industry is changing faster than ever. Tablets are rising. Ultrabooks are just emerging. Netbooks are dying. Many things have happened since the rise of netbooks. But it is clear that more consumers are giving mobile devices a consideration these days. That is perhaps the reason Intel has formed a new group, the Mobile and Communications Group (MCG), to focus more on phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Intel’s goal is clearly to speed and improve the development of mobile devices and components.

Intel faces stiff competition in the mobile devices market. Hermann Eul and Mike Bell, Intel executives will run the new group. It will be interesting to see how this group will change the way Intel does business.

Those of you who have owned a netbook in the past have probably experienced what Intel ATOM processors have to offer. Intel ATOM processors are not too powerful but they are energy efficient enough to allow netbook makers to create products that can last for hours. It is no secret that the netbook market has slowed down. Many experts have wondered where Intel would go from here:

There was some disappointment on some of the experience side, it maybe didn’t keep up with the pace of innovation. Now we’re trying to reinvigorate that. We’re trying to go in and integrate more technologies and we’ll see… if it has a role to fill in the market place between an ultrabook on one hand and pure tablet experience on the other,

said Intel’s Greg Welch. Intel’s future lies probably in the tablet business. The company needs to be more involved. ARM processors may be more energy efficient but when it comes to power, Intel has got the upper hands for now.

While it’s not too surprising to see Intel claim that the netbook market is on the rise, there is no question that the market has still ways to go. For starters, we still have not seen netbooks reach their full potential. There are plenty of netbook / tablet hybrids available on the market. Let’s not forget that Intel is touting dual-core netbooks and Intel-based tablets (which we could see released to the market soon). That means the iPad has not managed to kill off netbooks just yet.

For Intel, it’s all about providing the best performance possible on netbooks. Tablets can do simple things, and they make great web devices. But netbooks can easily go beyond that if they are equipped with more sophisticated processors. Energy efficiency and battery life is always going to be an issue for laptop manufacturers though netbook makers will improve as the market becomes more mature.

Is Intel too optimistic about the netbook market? Probably. It’s not that netbooks won’t be around and in demand. There are just too many alternative devices in the works. That’s great news for consumers but maybe not so much for manufacturers. The iPad is not going to kill netbooks but lack of innovation will.

You don’t have to be a genius to realize that the iPhone owes a lot of its success to the app store. iPhone applications have enhanced iPhone’s capability and usefulness beyond anything Apple dreamed of. It seems other companies have been closely watching and are ready to copy a strategy that has worked so well for Apple. Intel is one of those companies. As you know, the netbook market is exploding and many people around the world are starting to adopt these devices. While the market is growing, Intel can provide further momentum for ATOM-based netbooks by letting developers create useful programs for netbook owners around the globe.

Intel Developer Program currently supports Windows and Mobin platforms, but if you wait a while, you’ll get Java and Adobe Air support through this program as well. That means you can create killer apps for netbooks easily with this platform in the near future. Here is how Intel described this platform:

Provides developers with everything they need to create and then sell their applications to millions of Intel Atom-based devices.

Gives OEMs and the ecosystem a framework to deliver great new applications directly to consumers.

The details are still very sketchy about how this program will work. But it’d be exciting if it’s half as successful as the one Apple implemented for the iPhone. Netbooks are here to stay, and by using the power of the community behind netbooks, the platform can become more powerful for all of us. Let’s hope Intel and other companies that are developing their own App programs go about implementing them the right way.

The netbook market may be growing fast, but that hasn’t kept companies from positioning the netbooks in a way that sells more units. I have heard that netbooks are only for college students or people who don’t use their computers for anything but surfing the Internet. But, the latest netbook positioning attempt by an Intel SVP leaves a lot to be desired.

CNET is running a story that includes a very interesting quote from Intel SVP Anand Chandrasekher:

There are things that you would do on a notebook you wouldn’t dream of doing on a Netbook…For a kid, a Netbook is fantastic, as an adult you probably want a notebook. So, there are very simple ways of positioning and thinking about it.

Now this is one outrageous claim. I am sure the folks at Intel are trying to reposition their netbooks in a way that doesn’t take away from their laptops, but netbooks are certainly not just for kids. In reality, a kid may enjoy a laptop more than he/she would a netbook. Netbooks are designed to be portable, making them extremely attractive to people who are constantly on the go. I am sure a few kids here or there can use netbooks to get things done, but to assert that all the people who have bought netbooks should’ve probably bought regular laptops is simply a dangerous statement. I can understand Intel’s position, but one needs to be careful with words when it comes to dealing with the hottest market in the computer industry.

Your take: are netbooks only for kids?