It’s probably an overstatement to say that January and, more broadly, the first quarter of 2010, will be do-or-die time for smartbooks. But it’s hard to overemphasize the importance of a smooth rollout of different brands of smartbooks in the very early part of next year.
Smartbooks are already behind schedule. They were supposed to hit the market this fall. While unexplained delays have held back the release of smartbooks, sales of netbooks with Windows and Intel’s Atom processor have continued to grow. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, several netbook manufacturers are expected to introduce new models with Intel’s latest Atom processor, more memory capacity and the ability to run HD video. Intel is also trumpeting the success of its Atom software developer program.
The first smartbooks, running the ARM-based Snapdragon platform, are also expected to be formally introduced at CES. Qualcomm gave a brief preview of the first smartbook, from Lenovo, at an analyst event in November. We’re certainly hoping there are more brand-name vendors lined up to introduce smartbooks at CES. After all, when you’re trying to develop a new product category, there’s strength in numbers.
Tens of millions of netbooks have already been sold. There’s great interest in smartbooks, partly because they are expected to run Google’s Android and/or Chrome OS. But you can’t argue with momentum. Smartbooks (and lots of them) must hit the market in early 2010 or the category could be a non-starter.
Lisa
