So, in addition to Ekkie's
huge roundup of the latest Origami news, Microsoft's
got their official UMPC webpage up, and Engadget has some
hands-on pics and thoughts with some the UMPCs at CeBIT. One of the interesting things is the
Touch Pack to be distributed with many (all?) of the UMPCs, including a launcher app, "DialKeys" (pictured below), Touch Improvements, etc.
It's pretty clear to me that this is part of Bill Gates' vision. He's been known to be a huge fan of Tablet PC, and less so of Pocket PCs. Now, let me be clear: it's pretty certain Windows Mobile isn't disappearing anytime soon. These units are full-fledged PCs, relatively large (~ 2 pounds) and with 2-3 hours of battery life -- that's not going to do for one's PIM, cell phone, or even industrial solution, although they're supposed to get smaller and cheaper in the years to come. Still, I can't help but wonder if this will eat at the high-end disconnected Pocket PC market, especially the VGA standalone units. I remember trying to cram everything on my Toshiba e805, and for that kind of application, something like this might be easier. Instead of having a dumb cell phone and a Pocket PC, why not have a Pocket PC Phone or Smartphone (for phone, PIM, lightweight email, etc.) and a UMPC? I'm intensely curious what
you think, so poll time!