20 June 2008

The Emergence Of Mobile Internet Devices

The Mobile Internet Device (MID) that serves a gap between high end smartphones and ultra-portable OCs (UMPCs) is a fast emerging market, according to a report.

The global MID shipments will grow from 305,000 units shipped in 2008 to almost 40 million in 2012, reaching $12 billion in revenue, according to a forecast by market research company Forward Concepts.  At the same time, Integrated circuits for MIDs are forecast to grow from $29 million in 2008 to $2.6 billion in 2012.

Forward Concepts believes that Linux will be a leading operating system for MIDS.Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts and editor of the report commented. "We don't envision MIDs as ever employing Microsoft's Vista operating system. However, we believe that Microsoft has a MID play with future versions of Windows Mobile."