Why smartbooks might just squeeze the netbook category to death

Just when you thought that the netbook was going to become the great resolver, cleanly plugging the category hole between the smartphone and laptop, comes the mighty smartbook that insider say is really the dark horse that carriers – at least in North America - are secretly backing.

Plenty in the mobile industry ecosystem are getting alternatively hot and bothered by the potential of the smartbook, which promises persistent, always-on connectivity, setting in motion what is envisioned as a new era of integrated wireless modem devices that puts the carrier and their robust data networks at the center of the action.

With flattening revenue figures among US mobile carriers in the past year, the presence of mobile data-connected devices (from camcorders to someday, refrigerators) riding on 3G and 4G networks would enable carriers to throw more weight around in the ownership of the consumer electronics user.

The smartphone will have push email features that would ultimately rely on online apps and cloud services to drive functionality. Reliance on an OS other than Windows is one of the larger outstanding questions surrounding the smartbook, with some suspecting that Android will rise to claim that role.