John Spooner blogs his response to the Intel concept video here.
First off he says that Intel confirmed to InfoWorld that there would be a forthcoming UMPC announcement (rumored to be this month). I'm guessing that we'll be hearing more about a processor roadmap soon. Maybe something that consumes even less power and hits their very low watt targets? Maybe a new form factor? Isn't guessing fun?
Besides this tidbit, John also gets to a key point about UMPCs--cost. I agree 100% that for the mass market prices are simply too high. Even with Apple's midas-touch-marketing, I don't see UMPCs taking off in large numbers until prices come down. John suggests a $500 price tag. Sounds nice, however, with where prices are for other small devices, I don't see this happening any time soon, unless the whole market shifts prices down. Look at the iPhone--it's supposedly even going to be in the greater than $500 range when purchased with a service contract. Maybe combined with a movie service, or a wireless package, a UMPC's price could be brought down. Possibly. Or sales volume or competition could drive prices down too. I wouldn't hold my breath though--unless you can manage for a year or two.
Posted by Loren at April 13, 2007 09:35 AM