One of my internet tablet-toting buddies posted an editorial on why Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) have not yet taken off. His points have been made before, here and there, but he ties the ends up nicely and I will not argue with the reasoning. I do, however, want to take it a bit further and offer my own perspective.
My inner geek cannot understand why devices like Nokia internet tablets (one of the better prospects in this area) have not been more popular. These little babies do it all. What is not available out of the box is eagerly supplied by a dedicated-if-loose collection of coders who regularly buzz around maemo.org. Thanks to this creative bunch the feature set of the tablets has been significantly expanded, including such niceties as LAN support and even alternative web browsers. The potential of the tablets is their selling point.
But the everyday user side of me disputes that conclusion. The average consumer doesn’t buy anything for its potential– they purchase something for what it can immediately do once the power is applied. This is where the broad applicability of internet tablets and related devices has been, ironically, their marketing downfall.
Tabula Crypticum 