Google is being somewhat circumspect about whether Android or Chrome will run on future tablet computers, with two top executives hinting recently at different possible directions. Analysts also disagree in their predictions.
Netbooks are cheaper, lighter and generally operate more slowly than an ordinary laptop -- but should their expected lifespan be shorter?
Samsung is expected to show off an Android-based tablet dubbed the P1000 Galaxy Tab at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin next month, according to multiple reports. The tablet is said to feature a 7-inch touchscreen and offer live video chat capabilities.
Chip sales are growing, partly driven by growing netbook sales and falling laptop prices, market research firms say.
After comfortably residing for years in mobile devices like cell phones, chips based on the Arm design are finding their way into commercial laptops.
Intel will show off key products next week that the chip maker hopes will expand its presence in the mobile space, while driving it into new markets.
Netbook sales keep growing, as do the sizes of their displays.
Nokia has unveiled the Booklet 3G, a netbook with high-speed mobile broadband and Wi-Fi connectivity, and a GPS receiver, the company said on Monday. The Booklet 3G should run for up to 12 hours on one battery charge, Nokia said. It weighs 1.25 kilograms, has an aluminum chassis and is slightly more than 2 centimeters thin.
Apple will release a netbook this October that sells for about US$800 and sports a 9.7-in. screen, a Taiwanese news site has reported.
Google's Android mobile phone software worked well on mini-laptops at the Computex Taipei 2009 electronics show and, backed by the strong Google brand, the mobile OS may be headed for prime time, two Gartner analysts say.
I'd like to believe that Intel and the open source Moblin platform (based on Linux) for mobile devices will stop Microsoft's nakedly monopolistic ploy to slow netbook sales. But they won't.
No matter what you may have read, Moblin is part of Intel's strategic move into the smartphone market, not a ploy to challenge Microsoft's hold on the netbook operating system market. Intel, which is facing increasing scrutiny from regulators in Europe and the United States, isn't in a position to tell PC makers what to do with its chips. And PC makers, who are terrified that netbooks will cannibalise sales of more profitable true notebooks, won't act either. So everyone in the industry "is happy to let Microsoft do the dirty work," says Nathan Brookwood, a principal analyst at Insight64.
If you still blanche at the term "netbook" for being an ungainly piece of vendor-speak, then prepare to be nauseated later this year as "smartbook" supporters start to bang that marketing drum.
Microsoft will limit sales of some editions of Windows 7 to systems with screens no larger than 10.2 inches running a low-powered single-core processor running no faster than 2GHz, TechARP.com said last week.
An Apple official may have trashed netbooks for cramped keyboards and "junky" hardware, but shipments for the inexpensive laptops are showing no signs of slowing down.
Hewlett-Packard is considering offering an operating system platform developed by Google in its netbooks at the expense of Microsoft's Windows OS, according to a recent report.