Interview with Qualcomm about smartbooks

Posted on Wednesday, June 03 2009 @ 3:21 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
DigiTimes had an interview with Qualcomm senior VP Luis Pineda, you can read it over here. Here's a snip about the difference between smartbooks and netbooks:
Qualcomm acknowledges that the netbook platform is an important category in the mobile computing market. Although products were first launched only in 2007, OEMs/ODMs such as Acer and Asustek started to see some good shipment volumes just one year later.

However, when Qualcomm looked at the netbook platform, our attitude was that these devices needed to gain more in connectivity. The initial netbooks had only Wi-Fi connectivity, which meant they were very limited. Users had to be in hotspot or at a Starbucks to access the Internet.

So we've been working to see that 3G connectivity gets bundled with netbooks, either through a USB dongle or through Qualcomm Gobi technology, which would embed 3G directly into the netbook.

Still, even then, the way Qualcomm sees it, a netbook is still a Windows device, an Intel device – basically, a low-cost notebook. So the user experience is a subset of something you get from today's notebooks. And by subset I also mean less capable. Qualcomm has a slightly different vision.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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