the Onda

My new favorite section of the New York Times (a blog-like tech section called Bits) has a piece on the plummeting prices of what they call "Netbooks," or ultra small portables with low-end components and even lower prices. Netbooks belong to a new category of products called M.I.D.s (Mobile Internet Devices) which are apparently selling like hot cakes because of two intersecting trends: mobility and ubiquitous Internet access.

MIDs as a category are hard to ignore which is why every major PC vendor is now playing fast follower to those that led the way (even we at HP are now shipping various versions of the 2133). Most look like small laptops (though some like the Nokia 800/810 tablet push the form factor beyond that) which implies having to have small fingers or loads of patience to be productive, but this is a small price to pay, especially for kids.

I'm a believer. The only thing I'd love to see as part of the emerging MID category is a permanent, bundled in, Internet connection, much like the Amazon Kindle's. If the Bits piece is correct and prices could soon hit $199 on the standalone devices, $399 might just be enough to incent one of the EVDO carriers into a 2 year term of service. And that is before considering some of the more compelling subsidy models. For instance, if I were Larry or Sergey, I'd look to sponsor a device like this targeted at schools in exchange for nothing more than making them Google branded (sure beats the pants off of flying around in a master-of-the-universe customized 767.)

Imagine how compelling that might make the device for the millions of school kids in the US who attend crappy public schools and have no broadband at home. A relatively standard PC (unlike say a pie-in-the-sky reinvention of personal computing a la OLPC) with a permanent net connection might be just enough incentive to get kids interested in treating these much like the kids in Stephenson's Diamond Age. Then we'd just have to get started with the really challenging bit— writing the primer's software!

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