Google bans use of word 'netbook' in ads

Sub-notebooks, mini-PCs, net-tops… whatever you may have called them a year or so ago, the use of the term ' netbook' for the Asus Eee PC series and its clones has now been firmly established.

Late last year, however, reports started to circulate of sites receiving 'cease and desist' letters regarding use of the word 'netbook'. Psion, you see, had originally coined the term a few years back with its netBook device and appeared to be getting a little upset that other manufacturers were using it to promote their new models.

It now appears that an investigation by Google has resulted in the word being banned in those pesky Google Ads that litter the web.

Sure enough, when we ran a few searches earlier today we couldn't find a single Google Ad with the word netbook in it. Instead, all we found were ads such as "Asus EeePC mini-notebook from under £220".

Of course, this is just Google's take on the matter, but if the term netbook is considered no-go it will certainly cause a big shake-up in the industry. The term has become a firm favourite with consumers, and even Intel is using it in promotional material for its Atom processors.

We wait with interest to see how the rest of the market reacts to Google's stance, but, regardless of the terminology used by the industry, we can't see many people dropping the word netbook from their vocabulary.

[ JK On the Run via Gizmodo]