RIP! OQO

It is a cool device,



but it just cannot survive, even when netbook is the new fad.



AppleInsider | Former Apple engineers at OQO call it quits

Jory Bell and Nick Merz left Apple in 2000 to form OQO after a struggle within Apple to develop prototype designs for a new micro-sized laptop that resembled a miniaturized Titanium PowerBook. By 2004, OQO had produced a tiny Windows XP device using the Transmeta Crusoe processor.

Since then, the company has shipped machines based on Microsoft's UMPC reference designs, which have found a small but ecstatic fan base. The company's sales have been unable to keep the operation afloat however, underlining Jobs' instincts that the market wouldn't support a tiny mobile handheld laptop even if it were a cool bit of engineering.

...
Apple has expressed no interest in developing a conventional netbook or UMPC-like device, but has signaled intentions to both deliver lower cost, WWAN enabled MacBooks later this year and to deliver a wider array of iPhone and iPod touch models, including a new tablet device many observers expect to see next year. The company is also actively hiring engineers.

Interesting observation from the above piece. The device did not win blessing from Steve Jobs and Apple is rumored/believed to deliver a 7-10" ipod touch later this year. Also, it seems they left for OQO before the iphone or itouch.

OQO is a PC with all the features I would like, but I don't want to buy one.
Iphone is a smart phone which lacks a lot of important features, but I want one.