I feel I should apologise. Posting news updates hasn’t been as good as it should have been this week and there’s a lot of unread mails, ignored SMS messages and an RSS reader list that will have to be dumped in order to catch up. The problem is quite easy to explain – the ultra mobile PC and MID business is ramping up for some huge new markets and it was just too much for me to track on my own. Even though working together with JKKMobile has been a bonus and a pleasure, I will need much more than 4 days, 2 people and a mobile PC to report on it. Looking on the bright side though, there is going to be a huge amount of news to bring to you over the next week. JKK and I have about 15 hands-on videos in the bag, i have lots of new products to add to the database and even more importantly, UMPCPortal has made some really good new relationships this week that should ensure we are able to get news direct from source in the near future.
One of the big themes for me at CeBIT, and one that I’m going to have to consider for the portal in the near future, is the continuing division in the market across ultra mobile devices . 2 years ago we were talking about 7″ windows-based slates for the business and pro-mobile market. This year the devices range across multiple target markets and a myriad of form factors with a confusing number of device definitions. If you talk to Intel, they will now tell you that UMPCs are a sub-section of mobile Internet devices, a slight change from what we had last year where UMPCs and MIDs were under separate device banners. Others will talk about linux Internet devices and then, two stands away, you’re told that the $200 laptop you’re holding is a UMPC. Here on UMPCPorlal, I understand that most people consider UMPCs to be pro-mobile devices so I will continue to focus on that segment but by the end of 2008, the UMPC market will be dwarfed by the upcoming mobile Internet market and it will be extremely confusing for new customers. MID is a term that is catching on rapidly and although it seems to be well defined within the Intel partner cloud, it will be picked up and used by marketeers for many many devices in the future. In fact, I will predict that the non-pro ultra mobile PC devices we se marketed as UMPCs this year will be called MIDs next year. Such seems to be the force of the Intel machine.
On a personal level, I am really excited about MIDs. Within this segment that will see navigation devices, media devices, dedicated Internet devices and eventually smartphones move onto the new ultra efficient Intel and VIA processors, I will finally see my dream device. My Carrypad is coming and it will end the 2-year search. As that search ends though, the journey will be starting for millions of potential customers. Most of these journeys will be starting with a few simple keyword searches on Google and through the reports on early products, doors will be opened into websites focusing on the target features. Navigation, video, browsing, communication, computing and storage, all on a personal level. There’s no way that UMPCPortal can cover all the devices that target those individual markets in detail so I will continue with the 2-category split of pro-mobile UMPCs and mobile internet focused Carrypad’s and will continue to underpin those two sites with the product database. Navigation, media and voice will be in the mix of course but CeBIT 2008 has proved to me that for most MID customers it will be all about the functionality and not about the technology.
Again, sorry about the sub-standard service this week but as I near my home station now I can promise you that ill be working hard to get those videos and reports up ASAP and it will start with a report the incredible ultra mobile PC and mobile PC meeting last night.