Here’s a thought; Intel’s Atom will bring a number of ‘features’ to the table for UMPCs but not all of them are physical.

• Longer battery life.
• Smaller motherboard.
• Cheaper pricing.
• The Centrino brand.
• Laptop-class clockrates.

Note the last two in the list and consider these two devices:

Device A) Fujitsu U1010 with 800Mhz A110 CPU and GMA950 graphics. 2 hours battery life. $899

Device B) Fujitsu UltraMate with Centrino 1.8Ghz Atom CPU, Poulsbo graphics. 3.5hrs battery life. $749 (*1)

Not only does device B sound far more attractive. (UltraMate, Centrino, 1.8Ghz, Atom, Poulsbo….Woooooh!) but it’s a bit cheaper and returns a lot more battery life (due to reductions in board design, they could squeeze another cell in.) In reality, both devices are likely to return similar real-life performance but you can guarantee that device B will sell far more than device A, especially with consumers. Not only does Atom bring size, efficiency and price improvements but it offers some great opportunities for marketeers!

Did the title of this post attract you into reading the article? It’s exactly what the manufacturers will be trying to do with Atom. Is it good? Is it bad? If it seeds some competition then it could be good. If it misleads customers it’s going to be bad. What do you think?

(*1) Device B is an example, not a real device.