Tablets are the only topic of conversation in the world of mobile devices right now, and it is easy to forget that, at the start of the year, the buzz was all about ‘smartbooks’. These were the category du jour at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, as Qualcomm and Freescale coined the name and tried to stamp their mark on a new type of gadget geared to always-on web connectivity and cloud services. The smartbook in its original form has been largely swept away by tablet fever and enthusiasm for all things keyboard-less, but the need for a form factor that is optimized for the rising tide of browser/cloud apps and behaviors remains. The ‘cloudbook’, as envisaged by Google, looks set to fit the bill, and to create another mobile web category that could become almost as large a market as the tablet by 2016.
Google aims to make its second operating system, Chrome OS, the key platform for these fully cloud-oriented gadgets, which will often have physical keyboards but will have limited local storage and apps, and rely heavily on streaming and browser-based services. Other systems targeting this space, however ill-defined its form factors, include the Intel/Nokia MeeGo OS and HP’s webOS, plus a rumored brand new operating system lurking in Microsoft’s labs.
Chrome OS is not shadowy any more though, and CEO Eric Schmidt told this week’s Web 2.0 conference that it would arrive ‘any week’. He said the two OSs could be distinguished clearly by their input methods, making it clear that initial ‘cloudbooks’ would have keyboards. “Android is optimized for things that involve touch, Chrome OS is focused on keyboard based solutions. That’s how the market is evolving,’ said Schmidt.
Whether or not they release cloudbooks in the first wave, all the mobile device makers are keen to extend their reach into the cloud, even with existing phones and tablets. One of the most interesting developments comes from ZTE, which has released an Android tablet with an accompanying phone (which attaches to the tablet and is mainly used for calls). The ZTE Light is geared to help operator’s deliver services based on the emerging RCS and IMS standards, across wired and wireless networks ‘ very much in line with the moves towards multiscreen web and content offerings that span broadband, IPTV and mobile.
IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) is the full-blown standard architecture for supporting all-IP offerings across many different networks and devices, but is only being deployed by a few flagship carriers, such as Verizon Wireless, at this stage, even for LTE. RCS (Rich Communications Services) is seen by some as a more gradual stepping stone towards IMS, supporting the roll-out of selected IP services like VoIP. The ZTE Light includes an RCS client and runs Android 2.2, with connectivity via 3G, Wi-Fi, FTTx and xDSL. The first carrier to sign up for it is Telia, also the operator of the world’s first commercial LTE network, in Sweden. ZTE is marketing the product as the endpoint of its zMILE (Multimedia Integrated Life Experience) platform, which includes all its IMS-based core network elements.
Also seeking to get an early foothold in cloud and web services, as opposed to fighting Apple in the rich content tablet space, NEC has launched an enterprise device that is one of the closest things to a cloudbook yet seen, despite the lack of a keyboard. It is targeting its new LifeTouch product firmly at large companies, and sees it mainly as a tool for firms introducing web services. It even calls the gadget a ‘cloud communicator’ and is trying hard to give it differentiation from the iPad lookalikes. The product runs Android and has a 7-inch touchscreen supplemented with a ‘four-direction’ arrow button plus a stylus and the usual physical buttons.
The vendor believes it will find favor in warehouses, salesforces, stores and corporate employees who are on the road or heavily reliant on the cloud. Some of these environments are ones where old-style tablets are already in heavy use for functions like stock control.
The LifeTouch does support apps, media streaming and other classic tablet uses, but it is optimized for less glamorous tasks (the four-direction arrow is mainly for scrolling down long lists, for purposes like inventory control). And NEC is preconfiguring a major future tablet trend, what Google calls a ‘cloudbook’, which will run a new-look browser-based operating system like Chrome OS and be fully geared to web services and the cloud.
And HTC, riding high in smartphones, also has its eye on the cloud for future gadgets, and to expand usage of its current ones. At the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress, CEO Peter Chou said the firm would embrace cloud computing to increase the power and functionality of its smart devices ‘ and make them even more essential to their owners. “Cloud computing will play a critical role in the smartphone experience. As the mobile becomes more powerful we can’t store everything on the device; we need the cloud,’ he said.
HTC has already made more advanced cloud moves than many of its rivals, with the launch of HTCSense.com, which allows users to manage smartphone data such as messaging via the browser. “HTCSense.com is about the connected service experience, linking the phone to the cloud,” said Chou.