It seems the OpenMoko is actually getting a production date set for Spring. One has to wonder what kind of future this platform has since the only manufacturer is First International Computer (FIC). Another thing to consider is how an ultra mobile computer (UMC) can be had for the same price now, check out the Asus Eee PC. Sure I know ultra mobiles don't come close in mobility. However, for the price and with the use of a Bluetooth headset I think there are people willing to overlook that. That was likely the strategy Palm had with the Foleo and is now the current strategy of a company called Celio. Unfortunately those two companies made, or are making, the mistake of putting more brains in the so-called smartphone rather than in the computer. If these companies would have pursued their strategy from the opposite angle they could have caught on to a real market.
A somewhat poor example/implementation of what I'm talking about would be Microsoft's SideShow, which as the website says "allows a wide range of compatible devices to communicate with computers running Windows Vista." If one of those compatible devices were a cellphone connected to a UMC then you'd have your winning combination. Yet this winning combination would have been great like a year ago. Now companies like VIA and Intel are showing off motherboards the size of cellphones, granted still beefy ones. These developments may very well make that joint UMC/phone combination still happen but one has to ask if a Bluetooth headset is enough or if people still really want to see the screen of a cellphone (which would be a Microsoft SideShow device).
Apple is likely to offer this sort of converged device I'm talking about in the coming weeks so keep an eye out for that. What's interesting about Apple's pursuit of the cellphone industry is that a lot of the Mac OS still exists within the iPhone's OS which means it probably has a lot of future scalability. Personally I don't like the iPhone since I feel it's dumbing things down too much for me, on the other hand I don't really like any currently available smartphone because they complicate things too much.
Now when it comes to Google's approach with the Android, it's obvious that the Android is no ultra mobile computer. So what's the use right? I think the Android OS will take over the low-end ultra cheap cellphone market segment. I'm pretty sure Google even mentioned at one point that cellphones should be free and money should be made off of advertising.
