So Where Are Those MIDs Anyway?

It has been quite a busy few weeks for mobile minded geeks these days. First the world was swamped with ultra-net-mini-sub-low-cost PCs from Computex. Then Apple released its much anticipated iPhone 3G, and now we’re seeing that HP is announcing a slew of new notebooks and devices. Throughout all of this, especially at Computex, there was very little news about that exciting new MID platform from Intel we’ve been hearing and writing about since CES. Yes, a few companies made some noise on that front (UMPCPortal has a quick run-down) and this morning Pocketables brings word that the Digifirends MID (pictured below) is heading to the US sometime soon with ““contracted sales through Sprint and NextWave.”

We know that Intel has pushed back the rollout from early summer to later in the fall, but the absence of further news is intriguing. I’m not sure if they are just letting the ultra-net-mini-sub-low-cost PCs and iPhone 3G news runs its course, or if we’re looking at more possible delays.

I keep reminding myself of Intel’s very straightforward talking points at CES. What we would see in the MID platform in 2008 was only the beginning. The roadmap for 2009, 2010, and beyond was what this was all about. The deeper we get into 2008, I wonder if we aren’t seeing some re-evaluation of time lines and release dates, regardless of what the issues are. On many levels that only makes sense.

For now we’ll just have to wait and see.

UPDATE: Turns out we and just about everyone else got some info wrong on the DigiFriends MID. There is no deal with Sprint and NextWave for the sale of this device at the moment. DigiFriends does not have a ‘contract’ but they are in ‘contact.’