I'm not sure of the finances behind the Kindle, but I'm not at all sure it would succeed if people had to buy their own data access. (Also not sure it would be available at the price it is if not being sold by Amazon with the expectation of making it up on ebooks. I doubt it's a literal loss leader, but I bet it's making a slimmer margin than most comparable devices.)

The Kindle's successful enough, obviously, which disproves any claim that a non-pocketable device can't succeed, but I don't see it as an indicator of success for an even more expensive, but more capable, product, with more typical margin and connectivity left as the user's problem.

If you meant for it to be offered by Amazon (or a competitor, in similar position to handle connectivity), I think it'll be a tough sell. They are expecting to cover the cost of providing you with wireless access by selling you ebooks with almost zero marginal cost of production, and by not having very high data usage. (Regardless of whether they pay per MB, or have negotiated a contract based on low average usage, costs are certainly proportional to either expected or actual usage.) Ebook reading is largely not benefited by color, so this "plus" device doesn't get them any more ebook sales; OTOH, web surfing on the included connection is benefited by color, so they'll almost certainly wind up paying more for your wireless. Why would they do that to themselves? If they charge you for data consumption, the device stands to lose a lot of its appeal as a one-shot hermetically sealed ebook package; it's just another in the iPhone/smartphone/netbook-with-WWAN-and-contract continuum. Not that it can't work, but it doesn't look like a sure shot.

The only way I can see that it would "have to succeed" would depend on negotiating appropriate deals to provide video content. I'm thinking specifically of TV shows, if licensing and distribution could be solved. Ideal method would be using bittorrent (or similar) to run DRMed low-res shows with a closed tracker, starting the release when the show starts or, at worst, finishes airing. (If you're subscribed to that show, your device starts downloading immediately without action from you, so the show's ready when you want to watch it, and to boost downloads to nearby customers who want to watch it live or shortly after.) It's also necessary to prevent devices which haven't bought the show from accessing the tracker, the seeding servers at Amazon, or any other (non-hacked) Kindle Plus (which would have to forward an (encrypted) authentication comm between you and some Amazon server, and receive a go-ahead from the server, before they'd share with you). This should have a low enough circumvention rate to be viable for a while, anyway , and hopefully distribution is fast, mobile and flexible enough to compete with DVR, Hulu, thepiratebay, and other options. Now all you have to do is negotiate pricing and get the TV networks to sign agreements letting you do it. Maybe in 3 years, they'll think about it....

It will be interesting to see how well the dual mode OS works.

8.9" is way too big - it's a convertible tablet/netbook and not a MID. I think I would prefer a traditional docking station with a HDD, USB ports, and using video out to a larger monitor. That way I get my handheld and a 17" desktop computer.

theflew: Nice netbook. Now if only they would release it with Linux instead of Windows. >.<

Per their site it says "OpenEmbedded system and is a variant of the Ångström distribution"

I don't care for this form factor much. I had a PepperPad 2 and the problem with that/this size is you might as well have a traditional laptop. Even in tablet form this thing needs a dedicated case since it can't fit in a normal pocket.

I think Nokia is on the right track. I would love for them to have a docking port on the next tablet so you can use a larger screen/keyboard when home.

I have a N810 for daily use, I would buy the 7" Touch Book as a travel companion.

Well, if anyone's interested, and *assuming* I get one, I've requested one of the Touch Books for review. If I get one for review, I'll let you know what I think of it if anyone's interested.

Sure would be interested, especially that touch screen UI and dual mode OS.

Depends. For a pocketable? yes, too large. But I don't need a pocketable. My G1 fills that role just fine.

What I do need is something that is smaller than 24cm long (the size of my gadget bag; a maxpedition collosus), but bigger than a pocketable screen. Basically, I want a tablet/netbook.

Until I saw the TouchBook today, I was thinking "convertable tablet", like the Asus EeePC T91, or the CTL 2Go tablet. As long as they had linux versions.

But the TouchBook looks like it could give me an interesting alternative. My main problem with my NIT was: too small. I want something just a little bit bigger, just a little bit more connectivity options (video out, USB ports for full size keyboard and mouse, ability to connect to a KVM). I want something I can read a little more conveniently than the 4.1" screen on the NIT.

7" or 8.9" seem pretty ideal. And the OS choices are great (Android and Ubuntu ... and I hope some enterprising NIT fan puts Maemo on it).

If it lives up to the promise, I'm pretty sure I'll end up buying one.

I definitely want to read a review of it.

Imho the current tablets aren't all that pocketable really - they certainly don't fit into my jeans pockets.

So, yeah, I'd actually love to see a 7" tablet - if it was slim (~1cm) and had great battery life (8h? 10h?). A better companion to a small touchscreen smartphone than current tablets, imho.