Microsoft, Intel and others believe there is a bright and rosy future for Origami. What we should all keep in mind is that this is the creation of a brand new category of computer. So the question should be asked then what market will this new product category be successful in? We (Creative Strategies) actually wrote a white paper on this market about four years ago. In this white paper we discussed that there was a need for a UMPC in certain vertical's that did not want to carry around a full size notebook but need to run full Windows apps that would not run on any PDA. Markets with those needs are certain markets in healthcare, sales force and field force automation etc. The key for this new category is price and battery life. If the vendors can get the price below $700 and get at least two hours of battery life then the category can really gain some steam. The big future question on markets is can this evolve into something that consumers can get excited about? Possibly bring price and functionality down and focus it on entertainment. That question will look for the foreseeable future while this product category gets flushed out with the mobile professional.
Comments