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The Pipeline: Pundits pick on the UMPC
Welcome back to The Pipeline, a weekly feature where we dig through the mainstream media and see what the pundits, prognosticators and and pencil pushers have been discussing over the past week.Last week, the media piled on the Nintendo Wii, more or less agreeing that the name left just a little something to be desired. This week's target: Samsung's Q1 UMPC, which went on sale today. As much as we'd like to say somebody actually liked the Q1, the mini-tablet was panned across-the-board, from The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg, who called it "so deeply flawed in key respects that it amounts to little more than a toy for techies," to BusinessWeek's Steve Wildstrom, who commented that "buyers would do better to step up to an ultralight laptop or down to a PlayStation Portable or a handheld media player." Elsewhere in the media, WNYC radio's Leonard Lopate sat down with Giles Slade, author of "Made to Break," to trace the history of product obsolescence from Henry Ford to Steve Jobs (what, you thought it was an accident that your iPod dies just as a hot new model hits the stores?). Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times checked out the "Into the Pixel" exhibit of video game art, while that city's LA Daily News, checked out the celebs at the star-studded Helio launch, including Milla Jovovich and Chloe Sevigny. We assume the glitterati showed up largely for a chance to get a free Kickflip, though we suspect most of them could afford the phone, even at its $250 price tag. The New York Times: A big question unanswered by a tiny PCThe Wall Street Journal: Two tech leaders aim for bold new portable, but miss the markThe Washington Post: Turning a miniature into a lightweightAP - Tiny PC carries a small load of annoyancesBusinessWeek - An itsy bitsy problemWNYC - Made to breakLos Angeles Times - The fine art of the video gameForbes - Helio heats up handheld lifestyleLos Angeles Daily News - Hello, Helio
Samsung Q1 UMPC to go on sale May 7th for $1,100
At a San Francisco press briefing and product demonstration that hopefully went better than its disastrous Korean counterpart last month, executives from Samsung, Microsoft, and Intel jointly announced pricing and availability details for the official U.S. release of the Q1 UMPC. Starting on May 7th, early-adopters will be able to pick up a Q1 -- along with all the high-profit-margin accessories -- at Best Buy's e-tail location for $1,100, with an in-store rollout planned for "later this summer." As you're probably already aware, the Q1, along with models from Asus, Founder, and TabletKiosk, is among the first generation of so-called Ultra Mobile PCs designed to enhance your on-the-go lifestyle, and sports a 7-inch touchscreen, Celeron M ULV processor, 40GB hard drive, 512MB RAM, 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth 2.0.
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Intel behind high UMPC costs?
Wondering who to blame for high-priced UMPCs? According to "market sources" out of Taiwan, it's Intel -- and Asian manufacturers in the company's thrall. The story goes something like this: Microsoft really, really wanted the UMPC to be priced at around $700. And the company was all set to partner with VIA, which could have delivered the goods using its C7-M processor. However, manufacturers like Samsung and Asustek demurred, insisting that Intel, with its good name and R&D might, was the only way to go. That bumped pricing up to the $1,200 range, and soured the whole UMPC launch. Well, maybe. If that's the case, we still have to wonder why the VIA-powered TabletKiosk eo is going for $900. And we can't help but point out that both Samsung and Asustek have had no trouble spurning Intel before, pumping out AMD-powered computers when it suited them. Regardless, VIA may have the last laugh. Samsung is already planning a $700, VIA-powered UMPC for later this year, and if other companies follow, pricing for the mini-tablets may actually come down across the board. Whether that will goose demand enough to make this a solid product category is, of course, another story.[Via TG Daily]
Samsung Q1 gets May 1 US launch
Samsung is set to officially launch its Q1 UMPC in the US on May 1, with an event in San Francisco. We're assuming (or at least hoping) that this will be a real launch, with an announcement of pricing and availability (Samsung has already launched the Q1 in Korea, with a price of about $1,200). Of course, if Samsung decides to hold the event in the Moscone Center and starts sending out cryptic invitations, all bets are off.
Averatec's AHI UMPC concept device
What do you get when you mix one part OQO, one part Sidekick, and add a touch of UMPC? Apparently you get Averatec's new AHI concept device, that's what. Expected to be launched this fall for as little or as much as €500 or €900 ($600 or $1,090 US) depending on options, Averatec's aiming to launch their device with XP, a touchscreen (which we assume will take advantage of Microsoft's Touch Pack UMPC suite), WiFi, GPS, 3G data, and a six hour battery life in a 7.3 x 3.5 x 1.3-inch 24 ounce package. So yeah, basically this device might single-handedly solve just about every complaint the UMPC community (and we) have: price, battery life, keyboard, and wireless data. We'll believe it when we see it though, so keep your eyes out for Averatec this fall.[Via The Reg, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Samsung Q1 gets $1,200 price tag in Korea
We've seen the official price for the TabletKiosk eo ($900). Now another UMPC has gotten its first official price, and it's an even further cry from the original "about $500" price point once expected for these devices. The Korean version of the Samsung Q1, expected to go on sale next month, will go for close to W2 million, or roughly $2,000 W1,199,000 (about $1,250). Sure, the Korean version comes bundled with a DMB TV receiver, USB keyboard, auto adapter and other accessories, but considering that just about every phone, PMP or electric toothbrush sold in Korea seems to include DMB, and you can get a full-fledged tablet PC for well under $2,000, we really have to wonder who Samsung's targeting with this (other than, of course, the usual coterie of fans who will pick up anything promoted by a team of spokesmodels).Update: As pointed out by several people, the Korean price will actually be W1,199,000 (about $1,250), not W2,000,000 (about $2,000), as reported. Not exactly a huge bargain, but certainly better than the price we originally reported. We've updated the headline and post above. Thanks to everyone who caught this.
SmartCaddie gets pricing, send off from Microsoft brass
Sure, the PBJ SmartCaddie may be nothing more than the Japanese version of the TabletKiosk eo (or is it the other way around?), but its official launch this week was reason enough for Microsoft to fly Bill Mitchell, father of the "ultramobile lifestyle PC" concept, out to Japan for the event. To drive the point home, Mitchell emphasized that the Japanese market is crucial to the success of the UMPC platform. Microsoft also showed off some homegrown apps for the Japanese market, including one designed to teach schoolchildren kanji, which will be tested this month with a group of third graders. As for the SmartCaddie itself, specs are in line with what we've already seen for the TabletKiosk, including a Via C7-M ULV at 1 GHz, 512MB RAM, 40GB hard drive and a thoroughly unimpressive battery life of 2.5 hours. The Japanese price will be ¥99,800 or about $848, putting it roughly in line with the TabletKiosk's $900 US price. Based on this and other pricing information we've seen, it seems safe to say that we're not going to see a first-gen UMPC for under $800, and that some will hit the market for over a grand, making Mitchell's dream of a $500 box something that will have to wait for future versions -- or Overstock.com if the platform doesn't make it past 1.0.
I already have an Ultra-Mobile PC: It's called a Newton
Yes, everyone's going crazy over the Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC), the new class of handheld devices that run Windows XP and are supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread (sliced bread with two and a half hours of battery life, but that's a different story). I don't know what all the hype is about, really. My Apple Newton 2100, which was discontinued about a decade ago, does just about everything else a UMPC does, and has a similar form factor. Let's do a modest feature comparison. According to Microsoft, a UMPC boasts: A touch screen. My Newton does as well. Check. WiFi connectivity. Using the drivers written by Hiroshi Noguchi and any 5 volt Lucent/Orinoco/Agere WaveLAN, I can connect to an 802.11b access point for internet (using either the NewtScape or Net Hopper browsers), email (with SimpleMail), IM (over jabber with NewtJabber), blogging (with nBlog) and web hosting (with NPDS. Go here to check out a few live Newton web servers). Check. Bluetooth connectivity. With a compatible card and the Blunt driver, I'm exchanging/synchronizing data with my desktop Mac and enjoying wireless printing from my Newt. Check. A good sized hard drive. Ok, the UMPC has me beat, but with Paul Guyot's ATA Harddisk/Flashcard drivers, I can have a few gigs of storage space available to me. Check. Digital music. MAD Newton lets me store and play Mp3's. Heck, I can even stream internet radio and download music directly to my Newt from iTunes 3. Check. Movies on the go. Well, I can watch The Simpsons and South Park on my Newt. Check. Customizable wallpaper. Thanks to Avi's Backdrop, I have a picture of my daughter as my Newton's "wallpaper," and there's a slew of other images I can choose from. Check. Word Processing/Spreadsheet apps. Newtonworks. Check. An optional, external keyboard. Check. In fact, I'll say "good luck" to anyone trying to enter information onto a UMPC without the keyboard, while the 2100's handwriting recognition is great. A weight of about two pounds. Check. A 7" diagonal display. Actually, the Newt's display can rotate to either landscape or portrait. Double check. Entertainment. Well, I can play games and read books, plus all of the other stuff I mentioned. So, check. Plays nice with both Windows and Apple desktops. Ooh, sorry! This one appears to be Newton only. Now how did that get on the list? Plus, the Newt gets a lot more that 2.5 hours of battery life (?!?), boots almost immediately since there's no hard drive, has a built in voice recorder and does all of the PIM stuff you'd want to do. Really, people. There's nothing to see here with "Origami." Move along.Note: This is all a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun, folks.
Microsoft's Origami project exposed!
Today is officially the conclusion of a pretty transparent viral marketing campaign by Microsoft for what they called "Origami project," but will now be known as Ultra Mobile PC or UMPC. What is UMPC then? Microsoft says it's "a new kind of computer" that "combines the power of Windows XP with mobile-ready technologies that make it easy to access and use your software on the go." In other words: it's a smaller Tablet PC.Why is this of interest to gamers? While it might not run Halo, Game Informer reported last week that the units would be able to connect to the Xbox 360, in a next-gen kind of Game Boy Advance/Gamecube sort of way. They wrote, "Origami is expected to function as a second screen for compatible games. One example we heard specifically focused on a game in the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter vein. While you’re TV is displaying the main game, the Origami could show the first person view of another player to help with tactical planning."Now that it's been announced, we can't seem to find any mention of 360 connectivity. Sure it would be neat, but expecting developers to put that much effort into supplementary functionality for a device that could never claim as many units as the Game Boy Advance is unrealistic. We're guessing there may be some functionality in the works while they determine how much demand there is. For more (lots more) on the Origami check out Engadget's coverage from the beginning, including some hands-on action with the Samsung model pictured above.
