I’m just returning home from the Reboot-conference, two days of inspiring talks and people. One of the talks was by the CEO of Opera, H?•kon Lie. It was entitled The web everywhere: $10 paperbacks, $50 phones, $100 laptops and $250 game consoles and H?•kon brought a $100 computer to the stage (you know, the one designed for kids in third world countries).

Interest in the Fisher-Price inspired device was huge. People were packed around the little green toy, trying to catch a glimpse of it or feel it. Here’s a picture of what it looked like.

Even though the One Laptop Per Child-PC has a larger goal than just being yet another gadget for the 2.0-crowd, you could still feel the “I want one”-urge around the little plastic device. There seems to be something very appealing in the idea of a cheap, portable internet-connected device with a large screen and real keyboard.

The Foleo is quite small.

How strange then, that the new Palm device, the Foleo is met by the blogosphere with disappointment and doubt. Reactions seem to be mostly of the “what-the-heck-is-this”-variety. I really wonder why.

It has an open Linux OS, a web browser, a full keyboard, wifi, usb and bluetooth. It’s relatively light weight and with instant power on. I’d say, this is a very interesting device that may very well replace my laptop at least when traveling. Especially if I can plug in an external hard drive and a digital camera.

The most common reaction to the device seems to be “I can get a real laptop for $700, why should I buy this for $500?”. That’s a valid question and the Foleo will be an interesting test of the market to see if it’s possible to penetrate the Windows (and Mac OS/X) domination. The laptops in this price range often has a 14 or 15 inch display so it’s not really the same product.

Or is it?

I really don’t know. That’s why it’s and interesting development to follow, as this could be a whole new market: the 5 to 10 inch displays and sub $1000 price. There are UMPCs (Windows), Nokia web tablets (Maemo Linux) and Sony UX Micro PC (Windows, too expensive, though).

So, this is a battle ground and the winner will dig deeper, into the huge 2 to 5 inch display market that today is occupied by mobile phones. A lot of players will try and stop Microsoft from going there.

Could be that the price is what keeps Foleo from becoming a success. It might have to distance itself from a Microsoft laptop even further and $500 might not be enough. I wouldn’t be surprised if the $100 laptop has some successors targeted at the same audience and UMPCs will continue to drop in price.

The Foleo might end up squashed in an impossible price point. Never the less, the cheap, portable, mobile web tablet is coming and the Foleo is a step in the right direction. I’m looking forward to the response from Apple, Nokia, Google, Microsoft, Sony and all the other players on the field.

I just wonder how many of them will have a hand crank.