Compal are a Taiwanese computer design company that have been responsible for a number of big-brand products over a 20 year period. Dell use them, HP use them and Intel themselves used them to design and make a Menlow-based MID prototype that got many many people excited about the future for mobile Internet devices. Its very very interesting to hear that the worlds second largest laptop manufacturer has decided to create a dedicated team to design MIDs.
The company observes that the focus on ultra-mobility, handheld, and Internet services found in MID products puts them in a separate market from current notebooks and ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs). The company expects the MID market to see fast growth in 2008.
With Intel, Google, Compal, VIA, Nokia, Ubuntu and Apple pushing a lot of resources into this area, do we need any more hints that the 5" mobile Internet device segment is going to be huge? So far, Microsoft is nowhere to be seen. They have a position in the mobile handset market and a position in the larger, Vista-capable ultra mobile PC market but so far, in this new sector, they are nowhere to be seen. I feel pretty sure that Mr Gates is going to have something to say in Jan though. Especially as the Windows Mobile update rumors are getting stronger.
Source: Digitimes
