Smartbooks launch assault on PCs

©AFP

Smartbooks are beginning a new year assault on the PC market with the launch on Monday of a range of multi-coloured devices that bridge a gap between smartphones and netbook computers.

The chipmaker Freescale expects the devices, known as reference designs, to be copied by manufacturers and appear on retail shelves by the summer.

It will show off their features at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week – all-day battery life, constant internet connectivity, a touch screen, Android operating system and expected to be available for less than $200.

The PC maker Lenovo will introduce a pricier version of a smartbook at the same show.

The clamshell device will contain an ARM-based Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm, a proprietary operating system from Lenovo and it will be sold by the operator AT&T.

“The smartbook market has the potential to be as large as, or to exceed, the netbook market,” says Ninis Samuel, director of consumer marketing at Lenovo.

Mr Samuel describes the target market as ranging from early teens to post-graduate young adults who use the web heavily.

“These consumers don’t necessarily need the full PC functionality of a laptop or netbook all the time, but they do desire a device that can give them a rich web and media experience on the go with a stylish and cool design,” he says.

Smartbooks were expected to be on sale this holiday season from a number of manufacturers, but the only significant launch has come in Japan with the Sharp Netwalker.

The chipmakers blame software problems – finding an alternative to Windows has been problematic and they have also been waiting for Adobe to provide adequate Flash support for ARM-based chips – needed to enable fast video delivery.

“We have all been working hard to make sure the software is user-friendly and highly reliable,” says Rich Beyer, chief executive of Freescale, whose processor is inside the Netwalker.

“It’s taken us longer to get there than expected as an industry, but it’s coming together now.”

Mr Beyer says he expects more than 30 smartbooks to be launched in the first quarter of 2010.

Microsoft appears to be unsure of the economics of developing and offering a cheaper version of Windows on low-cost smartbooks.

Henri Richard, chief sales and marketing officer at Freescale, says manufacturers are turning to free open-source operating systems instead, with Google’s Android OS currently having the most “sex appeal” with retailers.

“By not embracing smartbooks, Microsoft is going to miss big. I’m certain that there’s a lot of work being done right now in [Microsoft’s headquarters in] Redmond to address the opportunity that this market shift represents,” he says.

Roger Kay, analyst at Endpoint Technologies, says consumers don’t care if such devices have Windows or not.

“They’re not really looking for compatibility, but for what works.”

The category is still unproven though and some analysts say it will struggle to differentiate itself from netbooks and other devices.

Intel is also promoting smaller smartbook-like products it calls Mids – mobile internet devices.

Intel’s rivals have had to market the smartbook concept relentlessly to manufacturers in Asia and carriers globally.

Michael Rayfield, head of Nvidia’s mobile business, says his company has been promoting products based on its ARM Tegra chip to 27 different carriers.

Mr Rayfield expects this to be the main route to market, with operators offering smartbooks at a subsidised price or free with a two-year contract.

Atom-based netbooks cannot compete on price or power-savings offered by Tegra smartbooks, Mr Rayfield says.

Netbooks have grown from 5 per cent of portable computer shipments to nearly a quarter in the space of a year, according to the DisplaySearch research firm.

But while Intel will claim 94 per cent of the market for netbooks and smartbooks combined this year, it will have been overtaken by the ARM-based chipmakers by 2012, according to The Information Group.

The research company predicts Intel chips will be in 43.2m netbooks by that year but 52.9m ARM-based smartbooks will ship, relegating Intel to 45 per cent of the total market for these smaller, low-cost machines.