After seeing the marketing around Sony's new Vaio P and how it supposedly fits in a pocket, Engadget's Josh Topolski had a interesting thought during an interview with Jimmy Fallon of all people at this year's CES. It sure seems that while smart phones are converging towards laptop (netbook) functionality, laptops (netbooks) are converging towards smart phone functionality and form factor. This sort of begs the question, if the end game is two classes of devices similarly priced with similar functionality, why would we need both? Netbooks seem to be gaining popularity as consumers realize that they need ultra-portability, a full keyboard, and serviceable screen real estate. Smart phones are becoming ubiquitous because they can provide all the functionality once had from laptops in a form factor that can be brought with you everywhere. As the impending showdown draws nearer, it will be interesting to see which of these platforms becomes the norm, and which is relegated to niche market status.
No comments:
Post a Comment