Words of warning
Accordingly, Brazier observed that PC vendors are in the process of a major diversification in the direction of smartphones, and netbooks could be viewed as an initial step in that direction.
It's no coincidence that Acer, currently the fastest growing PC OEM, has already committed itself heavily to smartphones and that Samsung has found more success from netbooks than notebooks.
There were a couple of sobering thoughts too. Firstly, Apple makes far more margin from both PCs and smartphones than anyone else thanks to its uniqueness, and secondly, with there being so much momentum behind Google's Android, smartphone makers need to be wary of creating a dominant platform and thus lessen their ability to differentiate.
The commoditisation that has happened in the PC market - reducing margins for nearly everyone - will happen to smartphones too if we don't keep maintain diversity, not only of handset design, but of platforms too.
