[Cringely] There is an interesting transition taking place in the ultra-low-end computer market right now as consumers are starting to use mobile phones to perform functions that might previously have been done with handheld computers like the iPaq. As a result, handheld sales are actually dropping, which in the PC market means the niche is already dead. Microsoft is trying to follow this trend by putting its software in phones, but for the hardware OEMs the course to follow is not so clear. The logical thing to do, it seems to me, is to split the niche into its two component parts — mobile communication and cheap computing.

Wow. This is my third link to Cringely in three weeks, but he’s coming to the realization that many of us who have been involved in the embedded space for a long time have known - the home is going to be transformed by "cheap computers" (i.e., dedicated embedded devices).

It’s the Exploding PC.