MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Prediction: 300,000 MIDs will be sold this year

manchuia · 06-19-2008, 02:36 PM

The main problem is price. Very few of the MIDs will come into that range with a hardware set that will run Vista (OS of choice unless they are sporting Ubuntu Mobile (which is not completed yet)) or XP tablet well.

Then you get into the classic battle of needing better hardware to run the OS and then you have priced yourself right into new tablet pc territory where the MID lacks in hardware (again) and full usability (screen resolution, keyboard size, HD size / options, wireless options).

I am really looking forward to the MID market at the end of the year, but I think MIDs will end up like the EEE PC. Promised as a low cost alternative, but filled with a lot of devices that are just $100 - 200 too much for the average person to justify getting it (over a "real" machine).

The Nokia IT is the best example of a decently priced / spec'd MID, but the OS just annoys the ever loving crap out of me!

06-19-2008, 02:36 PM	#2
manchuia Connoisseur Posts: 68 Karma: 384 Join Date: May 2008 Device: In under a month I will have had both Sonys and a Kindle	The main problem is price. Very few of the MIDs will come into that range with a hardware set that will run Vista (OS of choice unless they are sporting Ubuntu Mobile (which is not completed yet)) or XP tablet well. Then you get into the classic battle of needing better hardware to run the OS and then you have priced yourself right into new tablet pc territory where the MID lacks in hardware (again) and full usability (screen resolution, keyboard size, HD size / options, wireless options). I am really looking forward to the MID market at the end of the year, but I think MIDs will end up like the EEE PC. Promised as a low cost alternative, but filled with a lot of devices that are just $100 - 200 too much for the average person to justify getting it (over a "real" machine). The Nokia IT is the best example of a decently priced / spec'd MID, but the OS just annoys the ever loving crap out of me!