According to Ultranauts.com the UMPC concept will succeed because there is Asia. Many people in Asia do not know how to write in their native language using keyboards - I have to confess that I did not know that that was possible - but they find the use of the TIP included in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition very comfortable because they do not have to learn "how to write"! Another reason why UMPC are popular in Asia according to this page is because in Asia they prefer small gadgets.
Hum... How many people do we have in China now? One thousand million? I hope that they are reading this. ;)
Ha! Except that most of them can't afford to eat, much less spent $1000 on a handheld computer.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of the things they said would make Tablet PC take off. But as we well know, asian adoption of the tablet has been virtually non-existent.
Josh, but there is a major difference now: UMPC price. This time we are talking about a device the is aiming to be 50% or more cheaper than any current Tablet PC in the market.
ReplyDelete(Amtek T700 is currently sold for 800 dollars, the lowest price in any device running XP Tablet PC Edition)
It becomes unbearable of reading the opinions of some turned sour !
ReplyDeleteOne acclaims a smartphone at 800 dollars and one condemns a true computer to the same price!
Enough!
The UMPC represent a true revolution by offering an exceptional machine for a low price.
And that continer will drop : as ASUS advertisement.
The opinions stupidly negatives are unbearable !
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteSorry you find my stupidly negative opinion so unbearable. But the fact is, I've watched this market since 2002 and I know it better than most.
Frank,
The difference between a tablet and a UMPC though is that a Tablet PC aims to be your PC. Not a companion. But ~$1000 price tag is still too much for the vast majority of Asians. Sure there's some that can afford it, probably mostly in Japan, but they don't make up nearly the majority of those billion people you're referring to. I'm not saying the price has to be much lower than $800, but I'm just saying that the price is still out of reach for the majority.
The actual number of units of UMPC's shipped from what I can gather (Microsoft doesn't tell me so I have to rely on second hand information from various people) are still very low. And I mean very low.
Even the more mature and versatile full-fledged Tablet PC is not meeting expectations. Some like Gateway and Lenovo are making significant progress, but it's still not making a dent in laptop sales. I don't know what the solution is. But OEM's and Microsoft haven't found it yet. I'm really hoping for a major push with Vista to get the numbers up.
Josh, I know that 1000 dollars is not what the majority can afford there but you are forgetting that even the minority in Asia is a big number ;)
ReplyDeleteI do not think that Asia will safe TabletPC/UMPC concept or anything like that but I do really believe that UMPCs have came in good moment and that this new concept is giving TabletPC the fuel that they did not have in a long time. This together with new Ink features of vista will push this market a big time.