Differentiating Classmates
I received my first OEM Convertible Classmate PCs late last week from CTL Corporation. My previous Classmates had been various demo units supplied by Intel (with one still going strong running Ubuntu and the Intel Linux software stack); these 6 "2go PCs" were standard fare and are being used in pilots around the district, giving teachers the end of the year and/or the summer to be thinking about curricular uses for our larger rollout in the fall.
By standard fare I mean Windows XP Home (I know, I know, but it wasn't a battle I was willing to fight yet; the users really wanted Windows and I'll let them try out Ubuntu later), a 6-cell battery, a gig of RAM, and the 60GB PATA drive I'd tested before. They did all come with an extra stylus, which I thought was especially useful, as well as an application preloaded for generating a USB key recovery/backup medium.
However, the Classmate itself is just a reference spec from Intel. It's also available as the M&A Companion Touch in the States and under various other names internationally. So how do resellers and OEMs differentiate the product? How do we as schools decide what to buy?
For us, it may simply come down to our state contracts. For larger volumes, I need to purchase on the contract to avoid procurement hassles, which will send me over to govconnection.com where the Companion Touch is available for about $460. I'm especially fond of the 6-cell battery for all-day usage, so we'll see what that does to the price. However, there is little to distinguish the Classmate I get from one source or another.
That may not be a bad thing; I love the Classmate as is. However, it seems as though this market needs competition. I want to see these things in lots of schools, but that requires marketing, choice, and driven manufacturers and resellers. I'm going to Intel's Classmate PC Ecosystem Summit next week where software/hardware developers and a lot of vendors will be coming together to discuss this very topic. I can't wait to pick their brains and see where Classmate PC is headed in mature markets.