The 4-10″ mobile space has been my home for the last 4 years. It has been a tough-sell although to be honest, the technology and operating systems hadn’t really caught up with the desires of ultra-mobile fans. Yesterday, however, I was extremely happy to hear Mr Jobs talk about the space that many tech journalists call a dead ‘tweener’ category. Of course, these commentators were forgetting that it had nothing much to do with (high-traffic) smartphones and laptops.

E-reading, HD video, audio, shopping, internet-connected cameras, gaming, web pads, home control, social comms and microblogging devices, mapping and navigation, video chat and of course, a smattering of productivity and work. Add all these to the scenarios we haven’t even thought about yet and you have quite a solid case for building a sub 10″ device that doesn’t handle GSM voice!

2010 is the year that developers should be paying attention because it’s not only Apple here. Intel have a solid offering with their Moorestown/Moblin/Appup offering and Android is expanding into the space too.

I’ll be talking about this space, along with my beloved ‘Mobile Computing Segments’ diagram at DevMob 2010 in London next week so if you’re in the area, please drop in and say hello. I’ll have a bunch of devices with me too so if you want hands on with the new UMID BZ, Viliv X70, S5, Android Tablet and other MID-space devices, it’s the place to be! I might even have a pre-release 10” multitouch device with me. (Unfortunately not that one!)

Find out more and join the conversation here.

Many thanks to Intel who are sponsoring my trip to London for DevMob.

Note: I have a few spaces in my suitcase so if you’ve got interesting hardware you want me to present at DevMob (and on UMPCPortal/Carrypad) get in touch via the contact form soon.

• Mobile Computing Segmentation and Capabilities. (Updated from DevMob 2010)
• DevMob 2010 Video Interview
• Mobile Device Categorization at Mobile Dev Camp, Munich.