Promises, Promises

April 14, 2007

This video popped up on YouTube in the week, and although I’m pretty sure that some of the features and services will never be available, its interesting to see where Intel thinks the future for the UMPC might lie:

Whereas, the pitch for the Origami was very much along the lines of a single device-type you’d have to throw in a backpack (or, Heaven forbid, a “man bag”), the next incarnation of the UMPC may take the form a number of smaller, connected devices. (I’m not sure I’d ever vibe on the glowing communicator bracelet thing, but I like the idea of the Inspector Gadget watch.)

The adoption of Origami has been spectacularly underwhelming and the Pocket PC is as good as dead. Providing smaller form-factor, interconnected, devices might just save UMPC. Why? Because people simply don’t want to carry a brick around with them all the time.

Cell phones, especially the Windows Mobile models, are turning into the kind of devices that UMPC aspires to be. Sure, there will be times when I curse the size of the screen,  but I’ve got my calendar; I can takes pictures;  listen to music; watch video; use GPS; surf the net; get my email. Oh, and it makes calls too. All of this on a device that fits in my shirt pocket. Now that’s Ultra Mobile.

[tags]UMPC, ultra mobile, Origami, Smartphone, mobile computing[/tags]

Posted in gadgets, tech