I've only seen netbooks around the way as geek toys, *another* computer, not the primary one. I think they pitch them as just that, which limits the device and the market.

The smartphone fits into a much larger market. I dunno. I missed the boat I guess.

The Apple tablet rumor says they're taking that approach to enter the netbook market, which makes sense, I suppose. While simultaneously trying to take Kindle's marketshare too.

I'm not buying the option to plug a netbook into a monitor and keyboard b/c doesn't that defeat the portability argument? I guess it depends on who's buying it, but from what I've seen, netbooks are toys not people's only computer.

I like the idea netbooks, but every time I look at them I end p dismissing them as woefully underpowered for my needs. Maybe I don't travel enough to make the lightweight aspect worth the tradeoff. I like to be able to do as much of my work and recreational computing as possible from one machine, and netbooks just wouldn't cut it as a primary computing platform for me.

I do see netbooks as useful for the less-geeky crowd, though, particularly frequent travellers (salespeople, journalists, etc). Every bit of weight you can shave off the bag that's bumping against your hip as you dash for the next plane has to help. Browser, cloud-based and/or local office apps, and you're done.