Have you noticed that it’s not even Halloween and the stores are already setting up their Christmas sections? Seems to happen earlier and earlier every year. It’s no coincidence that Apple and Microsoft timed their latest product launches in time to ride that wave.
Since tablets and smartphones have been ID’d as an application for 3D ICs (albeit not in the current generations – although I haven’t seen a teardown report of the Surface yet) I’ve been paying a lot of attention to those markets lately. I’m most intrigued by the frequency of product introductions, and wonder if the market is really there – or will we see some of these fading quickly?
I saw a couple of commercials this week on TV for the Surface. I have to say, the commercials don’t excite me, and nothing I’ve read about the Surface really does either. That’s not to say it’s going to be some people’s nirvana. Here’s an interesting product review complete with videos, written by CNET’s Jay Greene Microsoft Surface: Not really a Tablet or a Laptop . Jay’s call – IF the Surface makes it big, it will be creating a new category of device.
The question is, will the market bear another hybrid device? But perhaps I’m not the best judge because I’m pretty much deviced-out these days with my smartphone, tablet, e-reader and laptop. Keeping them all charged and deciding which ones are absolute MUST HAVES when I travel is difficult enough without adding other options.
What are your thoughts? Indulge me here. Take the reader survey at the right. The results will form the content of a future blog post.
One last musing – whatever happened to the Notebook device? They seem to have gone the way of the 8 track tape player. Just saying….
