If you have been watching the Linux UMPC space, you may have noticed a new trend: style. Asus said fashion would be more important in future Eee PCs, HP has a rumored Linux UMPC that is very sleek, and, most recently, ECS announced a Linux UMPC that is designed to be very sleek. Apart from, obviously, just making Linux UMPCs look cooler, this new trend could also expand the market for Linux UMPCs.

Before the Eee PC, the few Eee PC-ish laptops were generally very high end, very expensive, and targeted at business executives. Although the Eee PC is a similar form factor and it is only $400, compared to over $2000, the Eee PC was not targeted at business executives at all. Now with the increasing attention being paid to making Linux UMPCs sleek, a Linux UMPC might be a reasonable consideration for business executives, not only expanding the Linux UMPC market, but also potentially making people more comfortable with using Linux in the office.

Although there are, of course, many other factors involved, Linux UMPCs with attention paid to style seem likely to expand the market considerably, not just for Linux UMPCs, but potentially for Linux in general.

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