A few years ago, the fuel cell market was aimed at the market's high-end, providing back-up power to electric utilities and phone companies, especially in places where anti-pollution laws might prohibit other types of generators. (Illustration from DCViews.Com.)

Now it's moving quickly into the replacement of batteries in laptop-sized and smaller devices. Fuel cells last longer between charges than batteries, and they can be recharged with new fuel rather than new batteries, fuel that might be available where batteries are not.

Now Toshiba has entered the technology side of this market. That is the most promising point of the story, not the specifics of what they're offering. (The device announced this week is reportedly much smaller than the one shown in the picture.)

The fact is this is Toshiba, this is a big company that doesn't do things halfway. They see opportunity here. So should you.

Toshiba's play is with a direct methanol fuel cell. The fuel is a form of alcohol, and the cell right now is replaced rather than being recharged. Samsung and NEC are also in the piece of the market Toshiba is targeting. That's fine.

The point is that the fuel cell market will have many niches, many fuels, many standards and many opportunities. It's going to evolve very, very rapidly.

And it needs to.