All in IT sales know how long it can take to convince a conservative community to give up with old traditions or get them to change processes that have been followed forever. ebooks seem to have had a similar battle so far but now Amazon's Kindle will be used by major universities so that students have no excuse anymore forgetting a textbook and this might well be the start of ebooks widespread adoption in schools and universities. All the textbooks will be nicely available on just one e-reader device. I had looked at e-readers myself a few months ago but after reading some reviews online decided that these products are not yet mature enough and for what they offer still too expensive ($359 for the Kindle). Still for students it makes sense to reduce the paper textbooks and save trees too. The bad remains though: expensive overall, no true web browser and no color display, although its b&w display is practically like reading real books. The Amazon Kindle is of course also competing with Apple's new iPhone UMTS and store as well as with the new category of PCs that Asus started (Asus Eee). Knowing how strong Apple is in the school market segment they will not leave this opportunity to Amazon alone I would think.

The Asus Eee PC has been creating lots of interest and pre-orders (100k in Germany alone for only 20k available from Jan 25 on). While reading some of the comments about Asus' plans to also bring out 8-, 9- and 10-inch versions, I found this new UMPC here that was shown at the CES in Las Vegas. It is from a Taiwanese company that is a supplier in the automotive industry, which for sure means highest quality due to the stringent QA requirements in that industry.

The Noahbook adds some great new things to the idea of the Asus Eee, and the videos make me want to check one out when it becomes available in Europe. What I like is the possibility to work with higher resolution (1024x780) while not having to increase the LCD display. You can move quickly around with the mouse. Also, the keyboard has been split into two parts, providing more space. Another simple but, it seems, effective design trick. From the videos, it also appears to be a very solid product, which is what I would expect from this company. Only question that remains is if pricing is similarly low, which I strongly doubt, but if it comes in at below 500 EUR then it could be a great product. Overall, the UMPC market is clearly taking off in 2008 and is stealing the show from the likes of even Apple, whose Steve Jobs seems to have lost - temporarily - his guru-like appeal, not showing much exciting news at last week's MacWorld and even having Apple's stock negatively affected but it. Steve, maybe you should hire some guys from Taiwan to get you back on the right track?

The new 299 EUR Linux (XP support will also come) laptop from Asus could be the surprise of the year. While everyone is talking about the iPhone and GPhone (the latter not any more), the Taiwanese have brought out a new category of laptops. They are targeting families and first time PC users etc., but I think it could be good as a second laptop for business travelers who are on a one or two day trip. It is always a bit annoying to carry around my laptop as it is still big and heavy for just using the Internet to check on e-mails and write some docs while waiting at the airport. Not to mention the stress that you expose your 2-4k USD laptop to on such trips. To buy a super expensive very small Sony Vaio or similar did not appeal to me either so far. So when I started to consider buying this thing for the kids this Xmas, I also had in the back of my mind to go for one as well for myself for business trips. Another advantage is that it starts up within just 30 seconds since it is Linux based. All the typically required applications are pre-installed as well.

An external hard-drive I think I might need with it, though actually a USB stick would most likely do as well if you are just carrying around some files. One thing that annoyed me just recently was the steep mobile phone invoices that my dear Orange Switzerland service provider has been sending me for a few months. Unwarily, I have been using my Nokia 9300 excessively for reading e-mails on trips around the world, which has now resulted in massively inflated invoices. If I force myself to only use WLAN with the Asus Eee, I bet I will amortize two of them in just one month. Laptop Magazine has given it a great review, most comprehensive and detailed - also positive - review I found in The Register; and many others were covering it as well. Battery life is with 4 hours a bit short maybe, but this might be fixed in a next product release. Bottom line comment from The Register: "Cheaper than an iPhone, less gorgeous but a darn sight more useful. But it's a shame about the battery life..."