Didn't want to post anything about this at first cuz I thought it was crazy, but Qualcomm will probably take most of the MID (and some UMPC) share within the next 2 years. When I read all the stuff about Intel's Moblin and the recent talk about "netbooks, MIDs and UMPCs were meant for simple tasks like web browsing, music and video playback and document viewing and editing" it was clear that ARM SoCs would try to get into the market. With the Snapdragon SoC Qualcomm could easily take the MID market from Intel because they have all the essentials integrated into the chip. Plus with the newer dual-core ATI-graphics-infused version slated for later this year at least half of the MIDs UMPCs and netbooks in late 2009/early 2010 will be based on the snapdragon chip because Intel's Atom TDP just isn't low enough and even with the Moorestown platform, you still need the communications chip plus Lincroft and Langwell. Intel's chips are x86 compatible yes, but by hyping a new and generally unfamiliar Linux software stack they're bringing Moorestown down to the level of ARM SoCs like the TI OMAP and Qualcomm's Snapdragon. In my opinion, for Intel's MID dream to work out great in the midst of chips from Freescale, TI and especially Qualcomm, their x86 microarchitecture will have to be further die-shrinked, integrated and the total dissipated power will have to be further reduced. I'm a big fan of Intel's UMPC and MID chips and was really looking forward to the promised sub $500 communication devices but it was a big flunk cuz 1 year later truly connected Atom-based MID's are still hard to find (with the exception of the OQO 02+) and remember it's been 2 years since the emergence of the Stealey. Qualcomm has promised sub $500 MIDs with all the familiar connectivity and I hope they deliver. By the way some popular Linux distros like Ubuntu and Fedora have now been ported to the ARM architecture, so it's just a matter of time before ARM SoCs level the playing field. This here is my 2c!
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Didn't want to post anything about this at first cuz I thought it was crazy, but Qualcomm will probably take most of the MID (and some UMPC) share within the next 2 years. When I read all the stuff about Intel's Moblin and the recent talk about "netbooks, MIDs and UMPCs were meant for simple tasks like web browsing, music and video playback and document viewing and editing" it was clear that ARM SoCs would try to get into the market. With the Snapdragon SoC Qualcomm could easily take the MID market from Intel because they have all the essentials integrated into the chip. Plus with the newer dual-core ATI-graphics-infused version slated for later this year at least half of the MIDs UMPCs and netbooks in late 2009/early 2010 will be based on the snapdragon chip because Intel's Atom TDP just isn't low enough and even with the Moorestown platform, you still need the communications chip plus Lincroft and Langwell. Intel's chips are x86 compatible yes, but by hyping a new and generally unfamiliar Linux software stack they're bringing Moorestown down to the level of ARM SoCs like the TI OMAP and Qualcomm's Snapdragon. In my opinion, for Intel's MID dream to work out great in the midst of chips from Freescale, TI and especially Qualcomm, their x86 microarchitecture will have to be further die-shrinked, integrated and the total dissipated power will have to be further reduced. I'm a big fan of Intel's UMPC and MID chips and was really looking forward to the promised sub $500 communication devices but it was a big flunk cuz 1 year later truly connected Atom-based MID's are still hard to find (with the exception of the OQO 02+) and remember it's been 2 years since the emergence of the Stealey. Qualcomm has promised sub $500 MIDs with all the familiar connectivity and I hope they deliver.
By the way some popular Linux distros like Ubuntu and Fedora have now been ported to the ARM architecture, so it's just a matter of time before ARM SoCs level the playing field.
This here is my 2c!