Despite its name, the iKit (sadly) has nothing to do with Michael Knight or his coche fantástico. Instead, it is the kind of tiny handheld computer we longed for in the 1980s -- a folding, QWERTY-equipped pocket computer with Wi-Fi, webcam, movie and music playback and Bluetooth. The iKit is designed to be an always-on internet device.
The trouble starts immediately. The iKit has just 192MB inside, split between ROM and RAM. The SD card slot means you can boost that to 8GB. Battery life is listed at a decent 250 hours for standby, but in use you get a feeble three hours.
Worse, the iKit doesn't come with any 3G connectivity. The internal USB connection needs to be modified to accommodate an HSDPA dongle. If we assume that the cell carriers will take care of that, then the iKit's next USP goes out the window: The press release claims that the iKit is cheaper than competitors, at £100 ($172). How much cheaper than, say, an iPhone? £500 ($860), apparently.
This figure is achieved by adding in the price of an 18 month iPhone contract. Of course, you'll need some kind of data plan to make the iKit work, too, so it seems like a rather unfair, if not desperate, comparison. Indeed, the flailing continues. Before reading the next sentence, take another look at the picture, specifically the picture on the left, and consider the aesthetics.
Really, IMOVIO? Do you really think that this will pull the kids away from their iPhones? It's not even a phone.
There's only one place this device will end up, and it might a big enough market to save it: In the hands of geeks. Because it is Linux based, it could prove to be a very useful hacking platform, and that SD card slot means dropping in custom firmware should be a breeze.
We don't like to be too down on companies trying to do things a little differently, but trying to push this little handheld through the usual subsidized telco markets looks like it will lead to a big failure. Get this thing on Amazon or in Best Buy, though, and you've got a possible nerd-phenomenon on your hands. Look how crazy-popular the WRT54G router became when Linksys was forced to open-source its firmware. And that was just a router.
Press release [Realwire via Computer World]
