I'm going to give two answers:

1) It depends on what the individual customer is looking for. If you're looking for a pocket computer, then the big competitor is going to be a MID (whether they deliver that efficiently in size and power or not). If you're looking for an always connected device, then the big competitors are the smartphones as they evolve to have better web services. If you're looking for a PMP, then those are the big competitors. If you're looking for one of those with an open OS, then the open platforms become big deals. If you're looking for all 4, then you'll probably be most likely to get it from a combination of smartphone and open platform, as those continue to evolve.

As things are _right_now_, I think the main competitors are the MIDs. It's the format that the N800/N810 most fit, even though they don't have atom CPUs. The fact that the official MIDs don't deliver the format as efficiently (for the reasons the general always mentions) doesn't mean that they're not effectively the same marketplace.

So, "it depends".

2) For me, what I'm looking for, it's a combination of "MID" (in the general sense, not the "Intel says it has to have an atom CPU" sense), Always Connected, and Open Platform. Give me an Android _phone_, in an EB MIMD type format (maybe adding a tilt screen), with an N800/N810 size screen ... and I'd probably be quite happy. Maemo 5 + voice/SMS + Maemo Calendar App* + SyncML** would do it, as well.


(* fully integrated into the NIT, using NIT contacts, etc.)

(** with all of the options the Nokia S60 phones have for SyncML, like contacts, calendar/tasks/events/todo, bookmarks, etc. ... files and email would be nice as well, but not necessary)