2007 was a year of significant events in ultra mobile
device (UMD) market,
according to a report by In-Stat .
The research firm says that throughout 2007, major moves were
seen on multiple fronts in what it calls an ‘enigmatic’ sector
including connectivity, new ultra mobile devices, and new
processors.
In-Stat believes that the industry is beginning to accept that
there can only be one Internet, regardless of how it is accessed.
Multiple access versions with limited/cut content and performance,
depending on whether the user's device identifies itself to the
network as a phone or a PC, are not an acceptable solution.
"Major moves by processor manufacturers will continue to enable
new UMD designs, primarily ultra mobile PCs (UMPCs) and mobile
Internet devices (MIDs)," explained Ian Lao, In-Stat analyst. "New
processor platforms such as
Silverthorne from Intel and
Isaiah from VIA
will continue to target not only performance but also power
dissipation."
Long-range wireless broadband, such as WiMAX, and new wireless
technologies like Gobi, a new platform from Qualcomm, are poised to
bring anywhere connectivity to reality, In-Stat also predicted.
It added that the market accepts the mobile Internet usage
concept as seen by the success of products such as the Q1/Q1 Ultra,
iPhone, and N810 from Samsung, Apple, and Nokia respectively.
Howver it cautions that the fragmented nature of consumer usages
makes it all but impossible to meet the significantly different
usage needs with one do-all device.