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 Channel Futures

Open Source


Move Over Netbooks, Here Come Smartbooks

  • Written by The VAR Guy 1
  • July 22, 2009

snapdragon_qualcomm_smartbooks
Now that everybody has jumped on the Netbook bandwagon, a new mobile device parade is pulling into town. Led by Qualcomm, so-called Smartbooks are slated to debut in late 2009. Expected to be slightly larger than the iPhone, Smartbooks are mobile Internet devices (MIDs) that run Windows, Google Android and a range of Linux alternatives. Here’s the scoop from The VAR Guy.

Qualcomm’s Smartbook effort starts with Snapdragon, described as a platform that:

offers an unprecedented combination of processing performance and optimized power consumption for the new generation of smart mobile devices. With Snapdragon chipsets, devices are always connected and aware and can offer all the communications users demand, including 3G mobile broadband, WiFi, Bluetooth® and GPS. Snapdragon-based devices are thin, ultra-portable and easy to use, with an intuitive user interface and mobile OS.

Qualcomm claims “a wide variety of Snapdragon-based smartbooks are already in design today.”

Sound far fetched? Apparently not. Qualcomm is telling customers to:

Look for smartbooks in all of their forms–from larger, sub-notebook designs to compact, touch-screen tablets and beyond–beginning fall 2009.

Qualcomm also is staffing up for the Smartbook effort. In a recent Monster.com advertisement, Qualcomm seeks a Linux software engineer who can:

“work with leading OEMs and software vendors to create a new class of device and user-experience dubbed smartbook. These devices combine the always-on, always-connected capabilities of a smartphone with a larger screen, full keyboard, and a more compelling form-factor and user-experience than traditional notebooks/netbooks. 3G is everywhere and fast and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets are small, powerful and power-efficient – join us to redefine mobile computing.”

The VAR Guy wants to learn more — but he’s also a bit skeptical of Mobile Internet Devices. Intel and Canonical previously tried to rally the industry around Ubuntu Linux for MIDs. But Intel seems to be focusing far more on Moblin (Mobile Linux) these days, and Canonical’s own MID efforts have been hit-and-miss. One reason: Customers and OEMs seem preoccupied with Netbooks.

Help Wanted: Linux, Ubuntu, ARM

Still, The VAR Guy wonders if Qualcomm Smartbooks will energize Ubuntu in the MID market. According to Qualcomm’s help-wanted ad, ideal candidates need to have experience in such areas as:

ARM kernel development, board bring-up, Linux device drivers (USB, SD, display, WiFi), Ubuntu/?Debian, bootloaders, uboot

Hmmm. The VAR Guy will continue to track the Smartbook story as it unfolds.

Tags: Agents Cloud Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Mobility & Wireless Open Source

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21 comments

  1. Avatar Lawrence D'Oliveiro July 22, 2009 @ 11:59 pm
    Reply

    These machines will be running on ARM CPUs. That means the only OS they can run with “Windows” in its name is “Windows Mobile”. This has nowhere near the application support that regular Windows offers, or even that Linux offers.

  2. Avatar The VAR Guy July 23, 2009 @ 1:13 am
    Reply

    Lawrence: Thanks for the perspective. The VAR Guy must concede… he needs to read up on ARM processor support.

  3. Avatar CMD July 23, 2009 @ 8:31 am
    Reply

    Windows CE may be limited, but Linux isn’t, there are plenty of apps ported to ARM.

  4. Avatar Charbax July 23, 2009 @ 9:07 am
    Reply

    Smartbooks will run Chrome OS as well..

  5. Avatar frugal July 23, 2009 @ 9:46 am
    Reply

    Chrome OS IS LINUX!

  6. Avatar Simplicius July 23, 2009 @ 1:05 pm
    Reply

    Here are some other Linux (Android) devices from a former Apple engineer:

    http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/23/touch-revolutions-household-android-devices-coming-this-year/

  7. Avatar Aut30 July 23, 2009 @ 1:21 pm
    Reply

    I am not that concerned with what OS it runs, but instead how would it be used? It looks too big for a pocket and if you need a bag to hold it, why not just get a netbook?

  8. Avatar The VAR Guy July 23, 2009 @ 2:21 pm
    Reply

    Aut30: You’ve just explained why some skeptics think the Smarkbook/MID (mobile Internet device) niche is “too niche,” somehow squeezed too tightly between Smart Phones and Netbooks.

    But The VAR Guy is holding judgment until he actually tests some Smartbooks…

  9. Avatar Mace Moneta July 23, 2009 @ 2:42 pm
    Reply

    For me, the major selling points for small notebook form-factor smartbooks are:

    – The battery life. Smartbooks are expected to have 20+ hour useful battery life.

    – Dual ARM processors. I’ve gotten spoiled by the smooth operation of Linux under a multiprocessor configuration.

    – GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi. I’m not interested in a data plan, as WiFi is ubiquitous where I use a notebook. The standard built in connectivity and GPS functionality are what I’m looking for. While some netbooks have Bluetooth and WiFi, GPS has been an add-on.

  10. Avatar The VAR Guy July 23, 2009 @ 4:43 pm
    Reply

    Mace: The VAR Guy appreciates your list of three major selling points. Our resident blogger isn’t interested in a data plan, either, because he tends to use lots and lots of bandwidth. So free WiFi or flat-fee WiFi (for unlimited monthly use) remain The VAR Guy’s priorities.

  11. Avatar Topher July 23, 2009 @ 6:04 pm
    Reply

    That looks remarkably like the Nokia n810, which, along with the 700 series, has been around for a long time. Is it new simply because someone else is making one now too?

  12. Avatar IGnatius T Foobar July 23, 2009 @ 6:26 pm
    Reply

    Hopefully the “smartbook” generation of devices will become what netbooks were supposed to have been. Think “big PDA” — *not* “small laptop.” Asus was on the right track before Microsoft bullied the industry into larding up the specs on these devices so that they could (badly) run Windows XP.

    Microsoft won that round. The next round will be substantially more difficult. As Lawrence D. pointed out, the ARM processor won’t run Windows, and even if it did, the *one* advantage of Windows — its large library of applications — still won’t run because they’re all compiled for x86. In fact, Microsoft would be foolish to even try because people would see “Windows” and then return the devices to the store when they find out they can’t load their favorite software.

    Combine this with the battery life of a mobile phone (three to four times as much as a laptop) and you’ve got a killer platform.

    MOST IMPORTANTLY, the technology will continue to commoditize, trending the prices further downward. When a Mobile Internet Device costs $99 or less — or perhaps even $0 when subsidized by a wireless carrier offering them free with a two-year data plan — Microsoft’s $100 operating system suddenly becomes a show stopper, no matter how much they discount it.

  13. Avatar Epicanis July 23, 2009 @ 8:11 pm
    Reply

    Actually, I thought of the Nokia N700/N800-series portables, too. I think the main differentiating features of these new devices (in this form-factor) will be substantially more processor power than the older N800 systems coupled with substantially LOWER price.

    Give me what essentially amounts to a fully hackable “low-end” computer that I can use as a portable GPS and basic web-browsing and email accessing device for less than, say, $150 and I’ll rush to buy one (or two, in case I accidentally drop one off a cliff or something…)

  14. Avatar Floyd July 23, 2009 @ 8:52 pm
    Reply

    ah but don’t forget that the industry has been willing to eat their young in the past to toe the Microsoft line. Remember the Network Computer? Also known as the $300 computer and some of use saw the hardware vendors, most likely with some marketing program kick-backs from the OS vendor, drop the price on low end desktops quite quickly. They inched their way back up some but the market for the NC failed to materialize and the backers gave up. We’ve seen that same OS company threaten the sector and even try to rename it without concern for consumer value in that sector. They don’t care if it goes away and would probably like it to. If the ARM boys don’t get going, and fast, the wave might get missed and into the niche it will go.

  15. Avatar Rex Lee July 23, 2009 @ 9:09 pm
    Reply

    WHy is this “move over netbooks”?

    It looks like a cross between a mobile phone and a PSP screen.

    I want 4 things in a netbook when I buy one (3 in the house).

    I want it to run Linux (or Moblin, Android, Chrome).
    I want it to be cheap.
    I want it to be MINIMUM 9in screen (a 10 on the same body is ideal)
    I want a keyboard.

    What you are talking about competes with an Iphone more than a netbook.

    Im getting old and 25 years of 12hrs a day at a computer, the eyesight is starting to go.
    I have a 58 inch TV and two 24in LCD for my desktop so I dont see myself staring at a 3-5 inch screen for any longer than it takes me to receive the odd SMS or two.

    This format has been tried before and it seems like the only thing different is the buzzworthy name.
    “Smart” is the new ‘green’. Smart phone, smart cars, smart drinks.
    And ‘book’ gives that distinguished look that the Macbook associates with. Of course that only reminds us that Book=intelligent is like the dumb chick who wears glasses to look smarter. Plus ‘netbook’ is still very much in so you have that association working for it.

    “Smart”book” is the new Mega-Lo-Mart. (for all you Hank Hill fans)

    Of course, were we come from we call it ‘Putting lipstick on a pig.’

  16. Avatar Links 23/07/2009: KDE 4.3 Milestone; New Linux RC | Boycott July 23, 2009 @ 11:40 pm
    Reply

    […] Move Over Netbooks, Here Come Smartbooks Now that everybody has jumped on the Netbook bandwagon, a new mobile device parade is pulling into town. Led by Qualcomm, so-called Smartbooks are slated to debut in late 2009. Expected to be slightly larger than the iPhone, Smartbooks are mobile Internet devices (MIDs) that run Windows, Google Android and a range of Linux alternatives. […]

  17. Avatar windmonger July 24, 2009 @ 12:01 am
    Reply

    The pricing of smartbooks will decide whether or not netbooks will move over.

  18. Avatar SwiftNet July 24, 2009 @ 1:34 am
    Reply

    Netbooks have morphed into small laptops. This was pushed by MS and the typical computer user. Netbooks started with a 7″ screen, then a 8.9″ screen was used, these are truly netbooks. When the 10″ netbooks arrived the typical computer user started to purchase them, these people wanted a laptop that wasn’t heavy and would run their applications, such as MS Office, Outlook, games, etc.
    This is where the idea of a netbook was killed. The 10″ units became underpowered Windows laptops. The lack of power was a huge disappointment for the majority of Windows users. Windows runs like molasses on a netbook, especially after 3 or 4 months of abuse. The screen size is also thought to be a little too small for Windows apps. So… the netbook is growing in size yet again. The new units will have a 11.5~12″ screen. They will have more power and more ram. They will also weigh more and will no longer fit into your cars glove box.
    I use a 8.9″ netbook with a celeron processor. It runs Debian for the eeepc, which allows this machine to perform very well. My only complaint is battery life (2.5 hours). I also have a Nokia N800, which is OK, but the processing power was always a bit weak. If the smartbook can give me the portability of a sub 9″ netbook (or the N800) with the battery life of 6 or more hours, and enough power to truly multi-task (celeron600 level) that is something I will definitely purchase.
    The netbook is dead…long live the smartbook.

  19. Avatar rich July 24, 2009 @ 9:34 am
    Reply

    I’m using the original Xandros eeePC 701. It is powered by an Intel Celeron processor. I’m typing this, holding my eeePC in my left hand, its cooling fan blowing hot air into the palm of my hand. Running cooler, with longer battery life, with always-on broadband, GPS, the ability to wake up the system from sleeo on the reception of a phone call, running Internet apps securely, such a device would be popular.

  20. Avatar tim August 1, 2009 @ 1:46 pm
    Reply

    “The VAR Guy wants to learn more — but he’s also a bit skeptical of Mobile Internet Devices.” I’m skeptical too, but we’ll see how it goes, I’ve been reading up at http://www.smartbook.asia with their news updates and I think you can find some other points to consider

  21. Avatar The VAR Guy August 2, 2009 @ 3:35 pm
    Reply

    Tim: Thanks for the link. The VAR Guy will check it out.

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