The concept of a smartbook was to take the fundamentals of a netbook and make the more expensive, but cheaper to produce.  The center of this evolution was using ARM processors and Nvidia Tegra chips instead of more expensive Intel Atom processors.  When they were announced earlier in the year they were received with lots of fan fare.

Tech websites were heralding smartbooks as the next new hot thing.  Samples from big companies like HP were put on demonstration and once again people were heralding the death of netbooks.  Then something happened, or rather it was what didn’t that is most interesting.

To date, no smartbooks have actually shown up in the market and received any attention.  This leads me to believe that smartbooks as a product category is dead.  Apple introduced their iPad and now everyone’s attention is fixed on releasing a tablet computer with similar functionality.

All of this could be a delay on the part of computer makers waiting until consumers have their attention on small computers again but it doesn’t seem that way.  A firm decision can’t be made until November.  Companies use holiday shopping as a time to launch products because of the additional consumers in the marketplace.

1. Rumor: AMD, Apple Finally Working On 11.6″ Netbook

2. Top 5 Changes To Netbooks In 2009

3. AMD Forcing Intel To Rethink Netbook Chip Strategy

4. Smartbooks Rise To Remove Netbooks As Cheapest Game In Town

5. Intel & Apple Join Forces To End Hackintosh Netbooks With N450 Processors