Openbook: Is Via's OpenBook the Next (Little) Big Thing in UMPCs?

Openbook: Is Via's OpenBook the Next (Little) Big Thing in UMPCs?

VIA is the only Taiwanese Semiconductor Company that dares to compete with Intel & AMD on PC CPU/Chipset arena. While VIA has been fighting this losing battle for a long time, the Sub-Notebook market has indeed opened another door for VIA.

OpenBook concept is VIA's strategy to capture new entrants of Sub-Notebook marketplace. By offering layout design free of charge, any company entering this field will be able to build their own Sub-Notebook/UMPC in relatively short time. But why would any company enter this market? It's already crowded. Without significant innovation on human interface design, Sub-Notebook market segment will step into the unavoidable price war.

Now, if I own the capital to spend on this venture, I would collaborate with Ubuntu, VIA and nVidia to produce a Multi-Touch UMPC aimed at aged people. What they need is just a beautiful device that can allow them to browse internet easily, store photos and perform conference call. Sadly, no company has paid enough attention to this market yet.