Philip Solis, an analyst at ABI Research Inc., recognizes the word game the ARM vendors are playing, but says it is justified.

"Some people are naturally going to look at it [cynically]," he said. But "any way you slice it or dice it, the smartbook is a different type of device."

The key, says Solis, is for ARM vendors to deliver on promises of lower prices than Atom netbooks, with or without the aid of bundling deals from telecom operators, as well as make smartbooks thinner and lighter in weight than netbooks.

The latter may not be that difficult, as netbooks have started to

Interestingly, ARM Holdings PLC, the U.K. designer of the ARM chips (that it licenses to hundreds of manufacturers), has apparently not yet embraced the smartbook term, at least publicly.