Scan the dyslexicon of products targeting the territory between laptops and mobile phones--e-books, mini-notebooks, mobile Internet devices, netbooks, smartbooks, smartphones, tablet PCs and tomorrow's cloudbooks--and you understand why consumers are confused.

They're not the only ones. Practiced market watchers admit to having been caught unaware by the netbook's popularity, for example, as consumers took to the products with an enthusiasm that even the leading PC companies failed to foresee.

Some of the product introductions represent truly new categories triggered by legitimate innovations; others boil down to distinctive marketing. Understanding the emerging products and the segments they target is critical for OEMs as they hone their designs, pricing schemes and marketing messages, but that's no easy task when the market is in flux.

Smartbooks and MIDs could still 'upset the apple cart'.

Nokia is a case in point. The world's largest mobile handset vendor is coming at the market from opposing ends with two recent introductions: the PC-like Booklet 3G netbook, running Windows 7 and Intel's 1.6-GHz Atom Z530, and the N900, a smartphone-like smartbook running Nokia's own Maemo 5 on Texas Instruments' Omap 3.

But the company's market-straddling strategy looks like a misstep to Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist at In-Stat. Nokia's netbook pricing, for one, has been "clueless," McGregor said: The Booklet 3G comes in at more than $800, whereas prevailing prices in the category range from $300 to $500.

Nokia hasn't been the only victim of the market's moving targets, nor will it likely be the last. As more companies in search of double-digit growth opportunities stake out turf, expect more new product categories to litter the landscape.