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Archive for March, 2006


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A win for 800 x 480
By  RogerS   March 9th, 2006 0 comment(s)
Categories: Internet tablet and Nokia 770

Otto Berkes, Origami architectThe Ultra Mobile PC’s have come out, with five different manufacturers releasing their models by the summer and more to follow. Welcome to the party, guys!

To my thinking, comparison with the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet emphasizes not only that all these devices occupy somewhat the same space and that a lot of people want the carryaround 800-pixel screen with a non-crippled OS, but also that there are clear differences in what Internet Tablets and UMPCs are aiming at and who they are marketing to. The design of the UMPC shows that forgoing a keyboard was as far as Microsoft was willing to deviate from the standard portable PC. (No other explanation, is there, for that VGA port and ethernet connection on a WiFi device.) And what really is the sweet spot as far as size is concerned? Eight inches? Or five and a half inches? Book size? Or pocket size?

Robert Scoble, the MS blogger has a video interview of Otto Berkes, the Origami architect and now general manager of the UMPC group at Microsoft. In it Berkes states, “The target was not the pocket.” With the 770, the target clearly was the pocket. You can see from the picture of Berkes above how much bigger today’s UMPC is*. I guess we’ll see which size proves the most popular.

More immediately, I think the UMPC’s arrival will lead many websites to become friendlier to the 800 x 480 screen. That’s something that truly will benefit us 770 users.

For one thing, I’m looking forward to Google designing pages optimized for this size screen (maps, gmail). Somehow I have the feeling this wouldn’t come as fast without the UMPC opting for 800 x 480 too.

* Future versions down to the size of a Nokia 770’s 5.5 inches have been promised.

Thanks to jkontherun for pointing out the Scobleizer video.

Seattle Times: ‘100 million tablets sold by 2008′
By  RogerS   March 7th, 2006 0 comment(s)
Categories: Internet tablet and Nokia 770

I followed a link from Ari Jaaksi’s blog to an article in yesterday’s Seattle Times’ Business and Technology section. All I expected to see was a simple reference comparing the Nokia 770 to the forthcoming Origami/UMPC tablets.

And what I ran into was this:

This week Microsoft and Intel are announcing that the first generation of UMPCs will go on sale later this year. They’re expected to cost between $500 to $800. Microsoft expects 100 million will be sold by 2008. The device was developed under the code name Origami.

100 million! Wow. I never saw such predictions.

Here’s more:

Microsoft and Intel hope they have the next must-have digital accessory. In the always-connected broadband world, the devices could be a new way for people to stay plugged in without having to lug around a laptop, cellphone and iPod.

Well, there’s half your rationale for that kind of prediction. The article does more than refer to the 770 — it says more about Nokia’s 770 than about Origami/UMPC. Ari is quoted extensively:

Nokia doesn’t want to displace the PC or the cellphone — it wants to fill a gap between those devices.

“We see that it should be something that is really concentrating on messaging, communications, Internet access — it’s not your word processor or your spreadsheet,” said Ari Jaaksi, Nokia’s director of open-source software operations.

And this explains the other half of that wow prediction:

“If you think about that there are 600 million households with broadband connectivity, and over half of the new broadband customers opt for Wi-Fi, more and more people are living in this Wi-Fi bubble,” [Jaaksi] said. “There’s clearly a market opportunity to offer experiences and devices within that bubble.”

I don’t know how big a piece of that market Nokia can grab. I hope it sells tens of millions, because if it does, we’ll see more varieties of sizes and features in the new Internet Tablets. And imagine an open-sourced Linux device leading the pack in a hot consumer category!

100 million!

Ultra-mobile VoIP
By  RogerS   March 7th, 2006 0 comment(s)
Categories: Internet tablet, Nokia 770 and phone

Intel ultra mobileSure, I’ve been following the info about Origami (Microsoft’s end) and UMPC (Intel’s). The more success any such device has, the more attention will accrue to the Nokia 770, IMO. (The photo here is from Intel.)

At Intel’s website, a page labeled “Ultra Mobile PC New Category of Mobile Devices” has an interesting line about features:

  • Always reachable via email, IM, chat, or VoIP

Makes me wonder: Will Nokia have the first such device with VoIP?

Or will one of the early UMPCs beat it to the punch?

Are e-books mainstream? Part 2
By  RogerS   March 4th, 2006 4 comment(s)
Categories: Internet tablet, Nokia 770, e-books and software

Are e-books mainstream? Seems that Microsoft thinks so. Its competitor to the Nokia 770 looks like it will have an e-book variation.

In the New York Times yesterday, details about the Microsoft/Intel Origami/ultra-mobile carryaround computer indicate that multiple versions will be offered, each oriented toward a different audience. One would seem to be the Nokia 770 crowd, interested in web-browsing and accessing e-mail as the significant function. Another target being aimed at would be gamers, with the browsing/e-mail aspects definitely secondary in their interests.

From information coming out at Teleread, it seems an e-book reader is also being planned. Microsoft has a fabulous e-reader (Microsoft Reader) in place, with DRM that enables it to deal with commercial, encrypted book titles. They also have long-standing arrangements with major publishers and the online booksellers. Sony’s Reader might be cheaper, but the Origami/UMPC will run XP, and will include WiFi access, not to mention color (both absent in Sony’s device).

The Times quoted an Intel marketing director as saying, “We don’t want to create a Swiss Army knife, because that’s not what users want,” thus the variations on a theme. This single-focus easy use built atop a device that retains full capability bears more than a passing resemblance to Nokia’s thinking. Ari Jaaksi referred to the box this puts them in — they can’t add features/programs without becoming that unfocused Swiss Army knife. But if Nokia isn’t going to emulate Microsoft’s approach and market multiple devices to different audiences, will it lose the first comer advantage?

Myself, I’d like to see Nokia acknowledge the application of the 770 as an e-reading device. Maybe it’s as I’ve proposed, by including the e-reader as one of its central apps. Or maybe it’s Nokia creating multiple firmware images, one for each of those different audiences Microsoft and Intel have identified. And the first specialized one could be for e-reading enthusiasts and students.

Microsoft and Sony are committing to the commercial e-book market, but Nokia doesn’t have to go there. There are millions of e-books being downloaded every month that are free, as well as e-books created for offline reading of websites, using programs like Plucker and Sunrise. With a six- to ten-month headstart over Origami, Nokia can position itself as the leader in the e-reader field.

theKompany Announces tkcPanels
By  Reggie   March 1st, 2006 1 comment(s)
Categories: News

 

theKompany just announced their first commercial application for the Nokia 770 — tkcPanels:

"Remember those sliding picture puzzles you would do as a child? They seemed easy until you started getting the picture more and more distorted, then the challenge was really on. We’ve brought this classic back as tkcPanels, but with some twists, we allow you to load any picture in to the system that you want to use to make it even more fun and interesting. tkcPanels is a fun and challenging way to spend some time."

tkcPanels is $6.95 and is now available here. 

Continue reading ‘theKompany Announces tkcPanels’


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