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The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is wrapping up after a week or so of excitement* (*YMMV). This is the main event for all the major electronics manufacturers to show new products. The result this year was a flood of Tablet and E-Book readers. Although there has never been a hit product in this space - with the possible exception of Amazon's Kindle (for which Amazon refuses to release any sales numbers) - a lot of people are betting 2010 is the year.
But do we really need small devices that are too big to put in a pocket, and lack keyboards? Steve Jobs famously (and unattributedly) wondered what they could possibly be good for other than surfing the web from the bathroom. I was long a skeptic as well, thinking there just wasn't any room between a good smartphone and a small notebook. But now I've changed my mind. I think most of what was shown at CES in this category will fail, but I think something in this space will succeed. By "this space" I mean a lightweight portable device with a 7 to 10 inch diagonal screen and no keyboard.
And unless you've been living under a rock you've probably heard the speculation that Apple has an entry ready to be shown at the end of January. Has Apple found a use outside the bathroom? I think so. We'll see in just over 2 weeks.