That’s Ultra Mobile Devices to you and me and it’s a term I rather like. Anyway, back to the story where ABI Research tells us that the UMD market, comprising Netbooks, MIDs and UMPCs. (Don’t ask us which definitions they’re using!) will reach, wait for it, 200 million units by 2013.
The interesting prediction is that by 2013, MIDs (Lets assume they mean small, handheld PMP-style Internet devices) will surge to meet 68% of that figure and netbooks sales will drop back to second place.
I agree with the general underlying opinion that MIDs and Netbooks will be the big sellers with UMPCs (as pro-mobile devices) remaining niche but the big question is ‘when’ and ‘how’ will MIDs take off?
Source: ABIresearch. Via Vunet.
This follows on from the previous main story post. All the iPods et all that are out there will become MIDs. All the netbooks will replace the laptops and the UMPCs will remain more expensive and therefore be the smallest part of the market. With all these units available, there will be money for R&D but not for the same form as before. UI design, battery life will have a higher focus as will interoperability. Memory and SoCs will continue to need it too.
That is their guess and I would like wait and see towards the end of this year of their agressive sales projections are even close. They say 10 million by the end of this year? with 90% being netbooks. If they did get 10 million a year that would only be 50 million by 2013; I think their growth rates are too high. netbooks to me represent a percent of potential laptop users and with 113 million per year I guess they feel laptops will radically increase sales or for some reason people would be cheap and not want a more powerful laptop? To me there will always be a larger percentage that want a powerful laptop.
If netbooks are selling that well it to me is due to them being basically the same form factor as lapotps. There are 113 million laptops sold each year and if there is an ultra cheap laptop type computer (netbook) then it is realistic to think maybe up to 10% or so would opt for the less powerful netbooks. Their popularity like the laptop is due to it being easy to use. Ease of use is due to a real keyboard.
To UMPC’s can be the dominant sales if the manufacturers would create form factors with touch type keyboards and designed them to still be jacket pocket in size. If not they will continue to be weak niche devices. In 2007 the entire UMPC market only had 350k units sold. Imagine the percentage of laptop users whom would opt for a pocket laptop that had a touch type keyboard like a Psion or HP Jornada? I see that actually maybe more like 15-20%, which would be more like 15-22 million a year!
They predicted in 06′ UMPC’s would also be selling in the tens of millions and look at reality 350k.
The proof of the pudding will be how well the Everun Note does then. It looks like Raon has done exactly what you wanted.
Hey, my name is UMPCMAN, and I don’t even know what the definition of a UMPC is any more. We seem to have broken into netbooks, MIDs, and phones in various flavours.
Netbooks are basically replacing laptops for those who want as small a device as possible with most of the computer functionality. Not useful for long term typing, but useful enough to get by when travelling, presenting, etc. I’ll be getting one no doubt, but there will always be a desktop PC on my desk when the real work needs to be done.
MIDs are devices that are pocketable, can be used for internet surfing, video viewing, and ebook reading, along with some productivity applications in many cases. They can’t replace a laptop/netbook because you can’t really type usefully with them, and they can’t replace a cell phone for most people because the screen size required for a MID is not really pocketable unless you wear cargo pants all the time like me.
MIDs though are by far the most fun and interesting category, because they can take so many forms. If they were light enough and big screened enough (5″ I think is minimum) then people would use them as multipurpose entertainment devices, as described above, and they could grow to more than a niche market.
PDAs will die, with the high end bigger screened devices like the Ipaq 200 VGA series evolving into MIDs, and the smaller qVGA series evolving into cellphones and Blackberry-like devices.
Off topic : When you said UMDs in the title, I was thinking about the UMD disc in PSP and was horrified to find out that u think they will proliferate :(
UMDs must die .. the PSP kind.
On topic, I think MIDs will become mainstream when the costs are somewhat lower. $1000 or even $800 MIDs are a tough sell. The MIDs which were supposed to have launched this year all were in the $600+ range and all had predicted 90-180 minutes of battery life. Both of these propositions need to improve before they become mainstream.
Check the price of the Benq MID. 429 Euro!
http://www.umpcportal.com/2008/09/benq-s6-first-3g-mid-launches-in-italy/
Steve