What would be nice on the virtualization side is to have that technology also embedded, with a standard API, so any OS could be set up to work with it seamlessly.

Apple should develop a device that is exactly like the iphone in appearance, only slightly larger. It should basically act as a macbook. None of the apps should be slimmed down. Give us a fully functional itunes, safari, and microsoft office, as well as allowing other apps to be downloaded. They should also develop an external bluetooth keyboard which can be used when you are at home and need to write a lot of information. Apple already has a bluetooth keyboard so it would not be hard to make it function with this device. The iphone already has the phone and safari. The itunes should be changed so it has all the capabilities of the computer itunes, allowing users to edit their music library and other features that were excluded in the iphone. Microsoft office and other programs would not be difficult to add. They would have to be slightly changed to fit the smaller screen but they should have the exact same capabilities. Basically, we need a macbook that can fit in our pocket. The only difference would be a smaller screen and it would not be large enough to insert CDs into. The iphone is so restricted with its current software. Apple needs to set it free and allow an open osx.

The problem with the iphone is the reliance on a computer. Most people want a handheld computer that does everything and does not need to be synced with another computer. This device I have described above should be usable out of the box and should be able to update itself, no need to activate it through a computer. You can still have your current computer information transferred to it when you buy it, just like buying any new macbook.

All I am asking for is a much smaller macbook, so small that you can carry it with you. It will probably be pretty hard to slim down a macbook into a pocket-sized device, but at the rate apple is moving, I don’t think it is that much of a stretch.

Interestingly, all the features described here are found in the EOL HandheldPC platform found in devices such as the HP Jornada 720, NEC MobilePro 790.

These HandheldPCs has the OS embedded with a lite version of the OS built-in. The only downside is that they ran crippled WindowsCE instead of Windows Embedded.

Microsoft, or Apple for that matter, has the capabilities to create such a platform/product. They need to have the will, ie financial motivation to do so. Here I mean the impact of such a platform on existing product lines. Although Microsoft had a prior strategy of replacing/killing its flagship products with its own newer ones, apparently they have not figured how to correctly engineer or position an embedded device effectively to replace their current Windows-Office combo product lines. Till they figure it out, I doubt we will get anything like that.

http://benkepes.wordpress.com/2007/09/28/the-apple-handheld-computer/

No but I read the original on Apple Insider. I’m writing up something about it now.

Have you read this?
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2007/09/26/apple-planning-tablet-computer/

Thanks tnkgrl. I was using ROM generically and you’re correct there are newer methods used today. I was also ignoring the xbox since it’s not the same type of device, although if they ever made that xbox portable….

Great article! I agree with you…

A couple of corrections:
- Most devices don’t use ROMs to store firmware anymore, but EEPROMs or NAND flash memory (which can be altered)
- Microsoft does design some hardware beyond mice and keyboards, like the Xbox 360 (the Zune was designed by Toshiba)

Apple won’t do it. After Jory Bell left Apple to start OQO, he asked Steve Jobs personally:

http://www.macrumors.com/2002/06/06/jobs-and-oqo/

I have a 17″ PowerBook and I love it, since I can do anything using it I could do with a bigger computer. Since I love big-screen computing, a 12″ PowerBook just would not suit my needs well.

But for browsing web sites without dragging a computer around, my iPhone is just perfect, and I write so many notes and send so many emails with it that I know iWork on an iPhone would really do well for me.

Unfortunately they’d have to figure out a copy & paste setup. If that can be taken care of, iPhone does everything I need in a small, portable device, and it’s so small that it’s always with me.

I think anything significantly bigger than shirt pocket size would be too unwieldy to carry everywhere. iPhone really strikes the right note here for a tiny device.

D

We need someone to get serious about this:

http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2006/05/desperately-seeking-info-pad.html

…There is an entire marked to Portable Media Players with 30 GIGs and over hard drives…

There have been devices like this already.
Psion, HP Jornada, Nec Mobile Pro, Sigmarion
The operating system is Windows CE.NET 4.2
However it was too early for this type of system to be accepted. Everyone needed to a get a laptop first.
Now that we have gotten this out of the way everyone is starting to look at getting things smaller and realizing that some tasks should be left at the office not neccesaryly for more powerful devices but rather for larger screens.
The next portable computer should have this in mind – don’t compete with the big screen.
Another issue is software.
There are portable versions of software that edit native MS Office documents, in fact they always existed but were overlooked by the marketing departments and never included with the units totally missing out on the office segment who had no idea that they actually were able to edit their office docs natively on their portable devices. As a matter of fact this is still overlooked as almost everyone with a windows mobile device is unaware that they can do this.
There is an entire marked to Portable Media Players with 30 and over hard drives that can play movies, play encoded music showing photos with plenty of processing powere under the hood. Merging them togeter with MS Windows CE.NET can prove to be a perfect combo. Instead it looks like everyone is trying to reinvent the wheel or simply trying to create a jack of all trades that comes at a price of thousands of dollars and will take years to penetrate the market.

First of all, it’s hard enough to determine what a handheld is. What’s the size? PSP size or less?
If it’s going to be that small, I’m not sure if I’d like a full OS with that size of screen. But hey, the Everun is a slick device that I wouldn’t mind having. Add HSDPA, SSD, and use sleep mode. Sounds like a winner to me. Can run the full internet and all those web apps that are IE only..

For a touch interface, Apple already has the head start.. but would you want something bigger? Then it wouldn’t be a handheld. It would be a mini-tablet..
And then some people simply hate touch devices.. so I don’t know if Apple is the answer either. They like to control every piece of the experience which is great for some, limiting to others.

This is nice to talk about, but I’m not worried at all with the handheld market. 5″ or less devices will be dominate. I’m worried about the 5″ to 10″ area since it’s pretty much wide open now.

Hey James – I wrote this back in April. Would LOVE your feedback … maybe you and I and others can collaborate on a state of the market type post or podcast?

http://tabletblog.com/2007/04/linux-vs-windows-vs-mac-umpcs-who-wins.html