It's the Battery, Stupid

It's a play on the quote of James Carville but the idea is the same.  Onxo is a mobile computing and entertainment blog.  We talk about wireless issues and products.  And this topic here fits perfectly.

For mobile warriors, you'll know what I'm talking about and I've written dozens of posts about battery issues.  Tips on extending your iPhone's battery life.  Tips on reconditioning your laptop's batteries.  What mobile users should do when traveling or being away from the outlet.

Now, Daily Wireless is reporting that Intel has fallen short of their sale target for MID - mobile Internet devices.  So far, approximately 30K has been sold, just south of the 200K units that Intel had optimistically hope will be moved.

So, what happened?  Prices.  Competition from price-dropping laptops.  Not being cool enough.  Netbooks.  It's arguable that one reason or another affected MID adoption. It's like a combination of many factors.

On the whole, battery life is likely the biggest reason for MID's dismal sales.  You have a mobile device that promises to allow you to do many computing tasks with entertainment values.  What good is it when it only runs 2-3 hours per charge?

In the next post, we'll introduce you to the next generation platforms that Intel and others are pushing to improve on speed and battery life.  Intel's Moorestown quickly comes to mind as the ARM chips that Apple, Qualcomm, TI, and others are betting on.  Intel's next MID-class chips are suppose to improve battery life from about two hours to about five hours.

Good but is it going to be good enough?  Mobile warriors, what do you think?  Personally, the wet dream device should allow for days of use with one charge but we're probably decades away.  Right now, I'll settle for anything closer to 8-12 hours.  Yeah, in the past, I've asked for a full-day of heavy use but I'm getting older now and I have to realistic, right?

Still, I can't wait until the newer generation MIDs and tablets to be made available.  Hopefully, it'll be gone right with respect to the battery life.  Not being tethered to an outlet will have a great impact on the mobile computing crowd.

Via Dailywireless

Note:  To Apple's iPhone, Palm's Pre, Windows Mobile, and RIM's Blackberries, you guys have a great opportunity to fill this gap.  MID and tablets are likely to remain a nitch market until the mobile society evolves sufficient enough to move from away from laptops.

Another note:  The netbook is a good intermediary from the laptop to tablets but we're likely years (a decade?) away before tablets serve to be the majority's mobile computing device of choice.