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Gadget Paradise Postponed

Or, Requiem for a Lightweight

A few weeks ago the requiem was written for smartbooks. These were meant to be similar to netbooks (with a keyboard and a clamshell design) based on ARM's microprocessors instead of Intel's, and on Google's Android operating system instead of obsolete Microsoft Windows. The lower power would have meant that you could leave them on all the time, like your cellphone, which is also based on an ARM microprocessor.

You can see why this would have been appealing. I was hoping to use one instead of a WINTEL notebook to do the usual things, such as surfing the web, editing photos, and printing. Was that really asking so much from the computer world?

Apparently it was. Why would the computer industry want to cannibalize the sale of $800 notebooks with $250 smartbooks? The losers would have been WINTEL, Apple, HP, Dell, Toshiba, etc. Fortunately for the computer industry, Apple found a solution to this conundrum: it assassinated the smartbook with the Tablet; instead of replacing $800 notebooks, it created a whole new category or gadget that every modern home must have. It doesn't have the same functionality as a notebook; it is merely an iTunes media vending machine. Thus the lucky consumer has more money to spend, rather than less. Who woulda guessed?

In the press recently, there was a glimmer of hope about reviving the smartbook idea. The novelty of tablets might wear off. The Android operating might mature enough to be able to handle a netbook-like device, rather than just a glorified smartphone. And fickle consumers might be in the mood for a buzz over a new type of gadget. The companies that have the most to gain from smartbooks are Google through its Android operating system and, they hope, a stranglehold on advertising income; also there are the makers of ARM microprocessors, such as Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Freescale, and Samsung. Microsoft, Intel, and AMD would be the big losers.

But there's a gap in the supply chain. Who would make the overall smartbook device? Presumably smartphone manufacturers or netbook manufacturers might take responsibility. They have something to gain by poaching on the turf of more established computer companies. 

Comments

Unknown said…
It's doubtful that the marketing plans of gadget makers is to create one device to handle all personal electronic needs. No doubt the assumption is that there is a home computer, a portable laptop for the road, the personal music device and the cell phone.
Might the real product be to sell software to keep all those gadgets in sync for some fee (say $100) per year for basic support. Lots cheaper to manufacture software with better markup.
I never thought of them charging for software to sync a menagerie of gadgets. Right now I do that for free for my mp3 player; but that's only one gadget.

Software's glory days might be behind it: it's becoming a freebie with the open-source movement.

But media will never be a freebie, for legal reasons if nothing else.