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Smartbook? What on earth is one of those?

The industry may know what "smartbook" means. Customers, however, haven't a clue: "The idea of 'a smartbook' doesn’t resonate with anybody thinking of buying such a device,” says Orr, ABI Research senior analyst.

Saying: "But it only costs $200!" may resonate quite well, Orr thinks...

Few in the industry would contest ABI's definition of a smartbook: "...a low-powered device running a mobile operating system, and which is always connected, either via Wi-Fi or (more often) using cellular or mobile broadband."

A smartphone has a pretty recogniseable shape: usually, "a big phone." A smartbook isn't recogniseable like that. ABI's Orr calls them "a subset of MIDs (mobile Internet devices) and netbooks,"

He also thinks they address the same potential users, usage, pricing, and market needs. "The difference is that they don’t use x86 processors.”

Will they sell? Orr thinks yes: non-Intel MIDs will eventually - by 2015 - sell well. He estimates 163 million smartbooks will ship worldwide in five years' time – and he calls this "a significant rate of growth given that the very first models only appeared in 2008."

The research firm's advice to vendors: "Yhey should avoid creating a separate market category with a new name."

Instead vendors should accept that they are competing in an established category. "Consumers hear about netbooks as alternatives to laptops and MIDs as alternatives to mobile phones, and can understand that," said Orr. "We believe the best opportunity in this ultra-mobile device market lies in new form-factors."

Oh, yes; also, the price has to be around $200. The market will buy anything that costs $200.

So when you see a smartbook in the store and ask: "What's that?" the assistant should helpfully say: "It's a new form factor, Guv... which means, really cheap!"

ABI's press release describing this study is available here