Everyone was wondering what the Origami device was, why it is special, and if Microsoft was going into the hardware business.  Personally I think it is clear that features and devices they showed in March at CeBIT didn’t live up to the hype.  These Ultra Mobile Portable Computing (UPMC) devices are supposed to fall between Tablet and PDA.

Samsung has the Q1, which is basically a small 7-inch tablet pc with an 900MHz Intel Celeron and 512MB of RAM, and a 30GB hard drive.  The only differences between tablet pcs and this thing are extra controls/buttons, instant-on multimedia player (no XP load to play). Why in the world do I need this thing? It costs close to the same as some tablet PCs at around $1100.  It isn’t going to have a longer battery life, which will be 3 hours to start.

I personally predict this thing will flop.  People have not been flocking to tablet PCs like they have to PDAs and ultra small media players.  I think this market won’t pan out until the battery life is there and the device is thinner and lighter.  The idea is great, but I think there is a disconnect between the current offerings and what would be successful in capturing the consumer market. I could be wrong since pre-orders at Best Buy sold out within 24 hours. Sure that grabs some media attention, but I don’t think the marketing for UMPC was done properly. Next I’ll post on why and how I think Microsoft should change marketing techniques.