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There’s a lot of excitement in the industry surrounding the new entrant into the mobile computing space—smartbooks. While many companies are gearing up to come out with their own versions of smartbooks towards the end of this year, many prefer to wait and watch before they are ready to take the plunge. Mobile phones continue to get bigger and more feature rich and notebooks continue to shrink. It’s like that old favorite nursery rhyme … “This smartphone is too small,” … and “this netbook is too big.” Will smartbooks prove that they are just right? How will smartbooks fare in this competitive market, where many new products barely manage to stay afloat and sink without a trace?

Smartbooks focus on blurring the thin line differentiating the smartphone and the netbook, as we discussed in an earlier article, ‘Smartbooks: An introduction’.

Smartbooks vs netbooks

We already have mini-notebooks and netbooks for mobility. How can smartbooks capture the market for small-sized mobile computing devices? Well, smartbooks do claim to be different! They are hailed as the ‘truly mobile’ device because of their enhanced battery life, like that of mobile phones. They also have all day connectivity and don’t depend on Wi-Fi, which is not always reliable on the move. These are areas where netbooks lag behind.

The fact that smartbooks don’t have a boot-up time like netbooks is an undeniably appealing feature. Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs told Bloomberg, “People don’t like carrying around a laptop and their charger.” He added, “They certainly don’t like the time it takes to open up your laptop, get online and finally download your first e-mail 15 minutes later.”

Smartphones vs smartbooks

What about all those fans of smartphones? A smartbook is not a phone and they’re not supposed to replace smartphones. Smartbooks offer a better computing experience with their bigger display meaning that it’s easier to use for online apps than a smartphone. Now if people suddenly stopped being obsessed with using the internet on mobile devices than smartbooks wouldn’t have a snow balls chance in hell. Even the Devil has a Facebook page, right?

The study, Ultra Mobile Device & Chip Market Opportunities by Forward Concepts predicts, “… Just as Netbooks have taken market share from Notebooks, Smartbooks & MIDs will take market share from Smartphones. Netbooks and Smartbooks will spur growth of both PC Mobile Broadband and Handset-Centric Mobile Internet subscriptions that we are forecasting to reach 295 million and 1.3 billion, respectively, in 2014.” While this sounds favorable to the smartbooks, there are various factors to consider.

Price

Most movers and shakers in the industry are tipping that smartbooks will sell for about US$200, although some are even suggesting US$100 is not out of the question. This leaves them on about the same level as the iPhone, but far cheaper than a lot of other smartphones. Netbooks are priced between US$300 and US$500. This might tip the scales in favor of the smartbook.

Operating system

Will the lack of Windows prove to be detrimental for smartbooks?  Right now, most smartbooks will feature Linux, Android, and other operating systems. CNET quoted Ashok Kumar, an analyst at investment bank Collins Stewart, who appears to be skeptical about the future of smartbooks without Windows. Kumar said, "The biggest inhibiting factor is that it doesn't have any legacy (established PC) operating system compatibility because Microsoft is unlikely to provide native support for it near-term,"

Android is however, expected to lend the power of the Google name to smartbooks. Henri Richards, head of sales and marketing at Freescale said that Android could make up for the absence of Windows. According to Richards, Android is important because of their joint efforts with mobile chip makers, like Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, in developing and promoting smartbooks using Google’s brand value as leverage.

Research firm Gartner noted that consumers favored Windows-based netbooks, which could indicate that a lack of Windows OS might affect the popularity of smartbooks. Silicon players like Freescale believe that the OS needs to be more user-friendly to capture the market. Dan Olds, principal analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group also believes that while battery life and low cost are important factors, it is necessary that software supported by Linux operating systems improves to cater to market needs.

The bottom line, in my opinion, is that if it works, people will use it, and they won’t give a toss who developed it or owns it. An operating system for a smartbook which has a small screen but wants to offer all the convenience of the internet like we’re used to on a notebook, has to be created as the best interface you can get with that size screen. It doesn’t matter if it’s Windows, Android or any flavor of Linux, if you have to scroll around to see everything or squint your eyes to read a menu, people will hate it.

In conclusion

Richard Shim, PC market analyst, IDC Corp, thinks that smartbooks may need ‘heavy marketing’ to survive. At the same time, Jay Chou, research analyst at IDC, believes that smartbooks will generate interest in future as PC makers also enter the scene. He said, “Interest in the device will grow over time because it enables lightweight and low-priced computing devices, which could interest PC makers”.

There are hurdles that smartbooks need to overcome, but they also tick a lot of boxes on peoples’ lists. The simple mobile transforming into the smartphone and the bulky notebook slimming down into the netbook, and the two converging at some point to form the smartbook, is simply a natural progression. Will Goldilocks be happy or are we all just spoilt little girls?

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