Here's a new terms for you: MIDS, or Mobile Internet Devices. They're someplace between a UMPC and a Windows Mobile smartphone. Think mini-tablet. Think HTC Advantage. Think something that runs Windows Mobile, that does the sorts of things you need a bigger screen for without the power-comsumption and hassles of a full PC.
Think we'll be seeing more of them soon, if ZDNet's Mary Joe Foley's post about Microsoft's latest hire is right. See, Microsoft just hired Len Kawell, whose job description is interesting indeed:
Kawell is defining the application model for occasionally connected rich Internet applications in the mobile environment. He is also responsible for scaling Windows Mobile to new kinds of kinds of devices with larger screens and faster processors – also known as Mobile Internet Devices, or MIDs.
I've always found the HTC Advantage interesting but not quite what I'm looking for. Thin it up a bit, maybe drop that keyboard (I prefer a full-sized Bluetooth keyboard), and you're looking at something that could be pretty compelling. Windows Mobile is certainly powerful enough to make a MIDS a UMPC-Killer, but the question is whether or not the market for UMPCs and MIDS is big enough to warrant it. Is is something that interests you?
