Greed and stupidity (reaching for those higher short-term profit margins at the expense of long-term market size growth) could sink ARMbooks. ARM — snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!

Not normally a conspiracy theorist but a real pattern is developing here, anything announced with an MSRP under $250 ever seems to ship. Something is distorting the market, maintaining a bottom floor in the price curve and not letting anything break down that barrier.

At this point I'd bet when the ARMs finally show up in stores they will all have 10.1″ screens and cost $299 and up, leaving battery life and weight as the only product differentiation to withstand the waves of FUD about their inability to run Photoshop. Thus they will be a one season wonder to be forgotten, leaving a fortunate few to hold onto the few non-sucking products that manage to ship as rare relics of an age that could have been, one where we didn't have to tote power bricks around with us. A clued in but generally scorned minority, like Psion and Newton owners once were.