'Franken-Products' Descend on Taiwan Computer Show

Certainly, odd combinations of hardware, software and service providers were everywhere at Computex. In addition to the traditional systems consumers have known for years - those that run Microsoft's Windows operating system on top of an Intel chip - computer makers showed off devices that rely on glorified cellphone chips and Google's Android operating system.

The industry cannot even agree on what to name some of these odd new creatures. A small laptop with an Intel chip is normally called a netbook. But a netbook with a cellphone chip is called a smartbook, according to some companies' marketing departments. Microsoft, meanwhile, prefers to call them all "low-cost small notebook PCs."



A 30-person company called Mobinnova worked with Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn for just four months to make what amounts to the thinnest, most power-efficient laptop for the carriers. Called the Elan, the Nvidia-based device can run for up to 24 days on a single charge if it is just playing music or run for 10 hours straight playing high-definition video.. .will start offering the product before the Christmas shopping season at a price of $49 to $99.
. .At least two more phone carriers plan to release Nvidia-based laptops . . .






http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/technology/business-computing/08compute.html