9

By Snappy!

Intel showed CNET its UMPC todayI badly want the Origami/UMPC to succeed.

Why? I love e-books, and the Origami can run many fine programs such as uBook and thus read popular formats like HTML.

So what can Microsoft do to improve the odds for its new baby? Three items top my wish list:

  • A price of $499 or less, which some say the Origami may achieve in the next six months.
  • Battery life of at least four hours in real life. Some at Microsoft–not everyone–have acknowledged the problem, and a longer life may be on the way.
  • Keyboard keyboard keyboard. I’d like to see Microsoft unveil a good one for the Origami.

In mapping out the future of the Origami-class machines, Microsoft should consider the plight of the ultra Personal Computer, which OQO is retooling for special markets such as healthcare to avoid confronting the Origamis in the consumer market. Besides, the ultra Personal machines were just too expensive for personal use.

By contrast, look at all the consumers still warming up to the far more reasonably priced PocketPC/Palm segment, especially the machines that come with keyboards or allow them to be used. A community of economy-minded users thrives at hpcfactor.com. I can’t tell you how much they cherish their HandheldPCs, a platform abandoned by Microsoft more than four years ago. The platform’s continuing popularity is no mystery. We’re talking about price, a keyboard and long battery life–just what it will take for the Origami to sell briskly.

Price Matters

I own a HP Jornada 720 right now only because it is affordable (like-new condition from eBay at $139). Even if HP were selling new Jornadas today, I would not buy one, because HP would charge $900-$1,000+ and think enterprise folks would lap them up at that price. HP was wrong the first time around, and the Jornada was axed.

No one is saying that OQO or UMPCs should be sold for $139. That would be suicidal without a content or service subscription sell-in. But if OQO or UMPC OEMs can lower the retail price to $499, then a whole new segment of personal and corporate users might buy.

Keyboard, Keyboard, Keyboard

If we look at the PocketPC/Palm machines like the Jornada, we see consumers warming up to those units with built-in keyboards and abandoning the purely stylus-based devices.

For Origamis, a keyboard would be good not just for uses such as blogging, but also for e-books. Why limit annotations to scribbling on the screen? Already, DialKeys, third-party software bundled by Microsoft for the Origami, will provide yet another means to input text. A built-in or bundled keyboard would only make things easier.

With a price of $499, here are the kinds of users who would appreciate bundled or built-in keyboards:

  • The blogger, as noted. What better than a one- or two-pound UMPC that the avid blogger could carry everywhere and type and post via WiFi online? (This brings up the issue of battery.)
  • The budding writer. Writers are creative folks. They are not programmers who could do with a 19″ LCD (actually two 19″ LCDs, one for the code and one to run the program or to run debug output for ICE). Having the keyboard built-in means being able to write effectively anywhere anytime. It would be crazy for a writer to try and write something with the stylus. Argh!
  • Mom and pop. I don’t know if anyone noticed (read Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and the other big boys), but even mom and pop use the Internet to write e-mail or look up weather or stocks. As much as I used to believe that surfing the Web is great with a tablet (I owned a tablet, the Siemens SL4 SIMpad, instant-on WinCE 4.1 device), I found that it’s not a read-only Web experience today. Notice? I am writing this fairly long post on my notebook, something that would be torturous if not impossible using the onscreen keyboard for SIMpad. Mom and pop and anyone surfing the Web today need more keyboard input than before. We post to forums, sell things on eBay, write e-mails etc. All of which require the keyboard.
  • The journalist. If the blogger can use a UMPC with keyboard, why not the journalist? If a UMPC has a built-in camera, he just needs to snap some pictures and send them over to his in-office editor to review–later he can take some more detailed photos with a stand-alone digicam. He can type his story and send it over wirelessly. And he can do it all without lugging around a notebook or fumbling over a stylus.
  • Law-enforcers.Police already have something like the Origami, but bulkier, uglier and in need of an update. They could have the keyboard as part of the car holder which the UMPC docks with. When out of the car, they could undock and uses DialKeys to do a brief report. With the machines docked, they could then sit down and type with the keyboard.

Battery Life

May I highlight again the need for whole-day battery life? HandheldPCs running the Windows CE operating system had a battery life of more than eight hours. With an extended battery for some models, they had 12-14 hours of battery life, more than enough for a day. My Jornada can go for more than six hours.

If UMPCs are to be useful at all, and I am not talking about usefulness to a Microsoftie engineer who spends his time shuttling among the different buildings in Redmond campus, then battery life should be at least five hours. When someone is using the machine intensely, with WiFi and full screen brightness and an MP3 playing, will batteries really last three hours in the current Origami? Nobody would use a UMPC the way Microsoft would test it–mid-dim backlight, soft volume, and occasional WiFi.

With three-four hours of battery life under maximum power usage, it would be more reasonable to use “Ultra-Mobile” to describe the Origami. Then users would not have to be tethered to a power cord, or lug around the power brick. I read an interview where the Microsoft folks says that power outlets are everywhere, so it’s not really an issue. Wrong. Power outlets are everywhere, but power adapters are not everywhere, which means you must lug one–to the clients’ offices, the mall, the clubs, wherever you go, and ask to plug in once awhile.

Besides, claimed battery life of the two-and-a-half hours probably means one or two hours of real battery time–really lame. Bringing a heavy power brick everywhere isn’t solution. In short, it could be a product-killer since we’re talking about more three pounds with a bag included–or what an Ultramobile notebook weighs. And the latter has a DVD drive to boot! The latest Sony Vaio notebook weighs in a bit over two pounds and performs quite well too. Only reason why it’s not in the mass is that it’s not priced to be so. But you don’t expect that from Sony, since that company sells niche products all the time and often doesn’t care a whit about the mass-market.

But Microsoft should. And if so, then it will need to address the price, battery and keyboard issues or see the Origami suffer the fate of the Jornada

Author’s note: Similar comments from me appeared in Engadget.

 
9