As someone above said, they limited the scope to all consumer computing devices. A car is not a computing device per say, even if it has computer parts. Same goes for power plants, heavy machinery, TV sets and satellite boxes.
One could argue that electronic calculator should be included, but I am not sure it would actually change anything.
A general general purpose device that can be programmed by the user to perform tasks beyond what was initially designed into the device.
This is my view, and not the only definition that exists. But if we want to avoid having to include every item ever produced in the last 10 years or so, the definition of a computer device needs to be slightly limited. Some Teddy bears nowadays has FPGAs in them. If everything from a stuffed toy bear to a 600 ton airplane can be called "a computer", "a computer" loses its meaning.
At a minimum, then, that would include graphing calculators.
Also, while most routers aren't exactly intended to be programmed, it's pretty easy. Easier than reflashing an iPhone, which is considered a general-purpose device, even though it's not really user reprogrammable.
Heck, the Canon Hack Development Kit makes a lot of 'dumb' cameras as easily reprogrammable as an iPhone.
And as others have noted, this study apparently excludes gaming consoles, which seems to me an unreasonable omission by any definition. ( I think the most reasonable definition that captures what you're trying to say is "something designed to run third-party applications." )
If that definition includes iphone, it also includes xbox and the ds lite.
(You could perhaps limit it to devices on which you could run a web browser. I remember there was a version of Opera that ran on the ds, though I didn't get it myself.)
I think your definition is spot on. The reason you can define a computing device that way and exclude 600 ton airplanes and stuffed toy bears from this discussion is that the devices are embedded in the actual item. An airplane can't (shouldn't) be programmed by the user to perform tasks beyond what was initially designed into the device, but the FPGA's in the teddy bear can be. It's not reasonable to look at how many of today's planes are made by Microsoft, but it is reasonable to look at the embedded systems market as a whole and see how influential Microsoft is.
> A general general purpose device that can be programmed by the user to perform tasks beyond what was initially designed into the device.
The user bit is sticky. What about green screen mainframe apps? Those weren't programmed by their users, but they were certainly computers. Chromebooks come to mind too.
One could argue that electronic calculator should be included, but I am not sure it would actually change anything.