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Microsoft wireless tablet rumored: Boost for e-books on the way?
February 27, 2006 | 8:23 am
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By David Rothman
Is a handheld wireless tablet with a touch screen on the way from Microsoft? And if so, will it be e-books-capable, not just multi-media-capable? Links:
- John Markoff’s New York Times story.
- Speculation from Newsome.org.
- The inevitable Scobleizer tease.
- Tech.memeorandum.
- “Origami” Web site mentioned with rumors–shown above and correctly regarded as Space Odyssey Retro.
Some Big News is supposed to come on March 2. Hmm. If the rumors pan out, what might be the price and the impact on the market for the Nokia 770 or the Pepper Pad? And will a replacement or update of Microsoft Reader show up in the near future?
Oh Jeeze, that graphic plays right into the hands of Bill Gates’ marketers. Hey, guys, no bill for you or any other company–just a request that your tech side go for open e-book standards.
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Comments:
I’ve been thinking about this, and it seems to me that all we need is an lcd monitor with batteries and integrated trackpad, and wireless usb.
We don’t need microsoft to establish a new platform, we don’t need XScale cpus or anything like them.
And the monitor would be both lighter and cheaper if we put up with a cord to plug it into the wall. More ‘curl-up-with-in-beddable’ if you will.
Hey, Pond, that would be fine with me. The more options, the better. Whether the industry will oblige, however, is another issue.
Last March, Bill Gates spoke about the “ultra mobile device” market, saying it was the hottest area of mobile PC development. The handheld he was waving around then appears to have been an Intel Ruby, and he spoke about approaching one-pound in weight and getting “well under $1,000, hopefully even in the $800 range.” The photos I’ve seen of Origami show a device that would definitely make for a nice e-book reader, especially if it’s running a full OS and has all the features I want in a carryaround — music, surfing, games, email, occasional word-processing or number-crunching.
One way the Nokia 770 cut its price was to forego a disk drive, as well as a keyboard. I put a 1GB memory card for the things I need to carry around, which goes all the way up to a 90-minute movie.
Maybe Microsoft is following the same model. I don’t see how they could get to a $600 price otherwise. It will be interesting to see how full a machine they make, and how closely the speculation about capabilities matches what they deliver.
And also how long it takes to deliver. Last year, Nokia showed its Nokia 770 at Linux World on May 25, and it was pretty much five months before you could get one.