Wow...we are in bad shape when even Intel can't find a proper name for a new category of device. These are the folks that supposedly pay six-figures for monikers for chips that once had names like T781ZXCS103.
That's right: we're supposed to officially call the latest trend "Hybrid Device." And the new hybrid is just one part of the market that Intel calls "Mobility" along with the other better-known suspects, Netbooks and Tablets.
Notebooks are not mentioned here because this is Intel's new Netbook & Tablet division that's trying to wrestle to the ground the high-flying tablet market that caught the industry by surprise. Well, not exactly "surprise.." There must be a different word for when the industry gets all excited about a concept (in 1999) and it seems to hit with a dud instead of a bang, but then years later (2010) it pops up as a great idea. How about "recidiviprise" or at least "reocurprise?"
Forget notebooks for the minute...many of the consumers have anyways. Let's look at the Mobility world through Intel eyes...
Tablets... the Holy Grail of mobility...Intel introduced a new Atom processor for tablets (yes, it has a name: Oak Trail). Most of Intel's efforts center on Windows 7-based tablets but new efforts look at Android and MeeGo (At Mobile World Congress, Intel demonstrated a new MeeGo tablet user experience available through the Intel AppUp Developer Program).
With Apple, it's Lord of the Rings all over again with One Ring to Rule All in the tablet universe. Intel prefers tablets to become a multiverse, arming tons of system builders and OEMs with chips to customize tablets to fit numerous different users. Intel has a seriously good sales rap on this point, charging that with Apple's iPad, the center of the universe is the IT whereas Intel wants to shift the center of many universes to the person using the tablet.
Shades of ARM, Intel also wants the processor technology to make tablets faster with chipsets that use less power and can fit in thinner tablets. Intel is talking about getting below 8mm in thickness with 10 hours active battery life with 30 days of standby. And instead of talking about all-day battery life, Intel publicly mentions all-month battery life in the near future.
With the launch of the Atom Z670 aka Oak Trail (it has two names), Intel is driving devices like the Razer Switchblade gaming device (its multi-touch screen comes with a keyboard that adapts to the games being played).
Tablets are also finding their way into the workplace more and more. Traditional vertical businesses like healthcare use tablets: Motion Computing’s mobile clinical assistant is an example of how tablets allow medical staff to directly input data into patients’ electronic files and avoid paper charting.
In the now fatigued netbook market... Intel insists it a misperception that the netbook market is declining dramatically. Intel says the market is only off by 30 to 35 million units a year (shipped and sold) and that's only about 5%. While Apple has bitch-slapped the market, Intel thinks the demand in different market segments is still there.
Especially, Intel believes there will always be an appeal for the low cost computing offered by netbooks. Intel even blames itself for not refreshing the silicon that could drive the netbook market further. Intel is looking at an even lower price point... $199 for a netbook. Intel will try out a new Atom processor (it's got a nice name: Cedar Trail) in the second half of 2011 that will add more PC-like features including Wi-Di or PC sync.
But it's Hybird Devices that seem to excite Intel's Mobility the most because they see a blending of the best features and technology available to netbooks and tablets. Think about the likes of Dell Inspiron Duo or Fujitsu's swivel-display computer. Mix up touch screens, keyboards and CPUs with the idea to create a single device that meets multiple needs of an individual. (Hey, let's give it name like Schizophrenlet...in honor of its multiple personalities...)
For example, take an idea from BMX's W7Pad tablet where Windows 7 is the OS but when you go home to a tablet-appropriate environment, you can shifts to a Finger Friendly Multi Touch User Interface with a Free App Store. Or an idea from one of the original netbooks, the Flybook where the screen swiveled and turned from netbook to touchpad tablet for business use.
Too many ideas, too little time...but a world filled with system builders trying to please hundreds of thousands of flavors of mobile computing... well, that just sounds like something too good to put a real name on.
