Mobile Internet Devices are a hot topic today, but not in the way that MID makers would hope. It all started with Ars Technica explaining that these handheld computers are hard to find and buy. No news flash there since you can’t walk into an electronics retailer and walk out with a MID. Even online ordering is limited to a handful of places.
Steve examines this situation over at UMPC Portal and spotlights the fact that MIDs are a niche product. As such, retailers aren’t buying stock to sell. He’s right on that part, but he didn’t quite get into why that is.
Granted, he rightly says:
“[U]ntil better products reach the market with better operating systems and some marketing support from Intel, I don’t think anyone is going to be throwing thousands of dollars at marketing themselves and buying large amounts of stock.”
But that’s not the whole problem, so I’ll point out the elephant in the room: smartphones of today — and tomorrow — are minimizing the demand for a handheld device with a desktop operating system. Yes, there will always be some people who want a fully-featured, pocketable computer. I’m not suggesting that there’s anything wrong with wanting that.
I am suggesting that the vast number of consumers don’t want nor need that. They’re just now starting to jump onto the smartphone platform at a time where they can do nearly everything they need to on the go. Remember, I’m not talking about consumers that make a living by creating web content or managing IT systems — I’m talking about folks that need to check email, search the web, update social networks and enjoy some light media content. The fact that today’s smartphones can handle all of that and, depending on the platform, have tens of thousands of applications for specialized purposes is helping to keep MIDs out of the mainstream.
Another related issue is that it’s hard for developers to focus on a niche product like MIDs when tens of millions of smartphones are sold every year. What’s the incentive for a developer to throw resources at a device that might only sell 10,000 units, for example? Wouldn’t those resources be better used on developing for a major platform?
It’s also not helping MIDs that netbooks have come from nowhere in 2007. If a small, cheap laptop with a usable keyboard hadn’t arrived on the scene, MIDs might have had a better chance at going mainstream. They would fit the need in between a limited-use smartphone and a full-featured notebook. But netbooks are clearly filling that need nicely, and doing so at a relatively low price.
I’m not predicting the death of the MID here — I’m pointing out why there isn’t much life in the MID market. Again, there are plenty of people that want or even need a pocketable PC. But some would argue that today’s smartphones go a long way towards meeting that need. And as Flash, HTML5 and other maturing technologies come to the smartphone platform, they’ll go even farther towards meeting the need once envisioned for Mobile Internet Devices.
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