The remote control for your life
3G modem giant Qualcomm sought to emphasise its commitment to diversification at a technology showcase in London today.
Andrew Gilbert, EVP of Qualcomm Europe predicted a near future in which "Your handheld device will become the remote control for your life," and it is clear that Qualcomm aspires to become a one-stop-shop for the mobile Internet, not just for chipsets, but for displays, software and services too.
We bumped into senior director of business development - Ben Timmons - once more and had a chat about Snapdragon, smartbooks, etc. Timmons confirmed that Lenovo would be unveiling the first official smartbook at CES in January and that it would be sold via AT&T in the US. He also revealed that it would be running a non-Android flavour of Linux and that it would have a Flash-based user interface.
Sadly Qualcomm didn't have the Lenovo smartbook on show, but there was this Quanta prototype.
Even more prototypical was this mock-up of a possible future form factor, which is essentially a tablet-like touch screen with a wireless keyboard that can be housed in the unit when it's not being used. Maybe that the sort of thing we'll see if the rumoured Apple tablet becomes a reality.
