Comments on: UMPC Search Term Still in Decline. What Shall We Do?

By: Russ

Russ — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:06:46 +0000

Sounds great.

Gotta think about what you can say to a layperson who thinks in terms of “an iPhone” “a blackberry” and maybe “a smartphone” (and that’s about it).

Probably the best thing you can do is keep the name, but maybe try out alternate names like a “smartbook”

By: Chippy

Chippy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:28:07 +0000

My near-final decision. (feel free to comment)

UMPCPortal.com stays.

Logo will include the words ‘ultra mobile’

I’ll have the logo redesigned in line with the one used at MIDMoves.com

I won’t use the ’smart, mobile and internet-connected’ tagline here (will use a simpler ‘ultra mobile personal computing’ tagline on the page titles only.)

I will highlight a ‘what is a UMPC’ link on the front page.

I will continue testing the social networking software over at Meet:mobility with a view to typing MIDmOves, Meetmobility, UMPCportal, solar-umpc and some other sites (maybe jkkmobile if he’s interested) together with a common community.

I may migrate the forums underneath Meet Mobility (with a duplicate here) which will tie in with the social networking software and allow me to drop the old forum software i’m using on umpcportal.com (important)

From that point on we will have a unified login system for all sites, forum and social networking which then allows me to add personalisation features to the sites.

I thank you all for the really helpful feedback and discussion. It was fantastic to see so much detailed response.

Steve / Chippy

By: Chippy

Chippy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:20:49 +0000

I know what you’re saying. That’s more of a tagline for MIDs.

I’ve dropped it!

Steve

By: Chippy

Chippy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:21:07 +0000

Very good point John. I’m going to immediately rectify that with a ‘What is a UMPC?’ link.

By: Chippy

Chippy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:19:57 +0000

One more thing on that.
When I tie my sites together with one login for all, then I can start adding personalisation. As I mentioned earlier, we’re testing a common loging and community at MeetMobility.com. Feel from to come over and help test.

By: Chippy

Chippy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:18:49 +0000

This is so high on the list it’s nearly fallen off!

Personaly I’ve run out of time which means finding partners. It’s funny. My todo list reads like the gdgt.com site capabilities list!

By: Chippy

Chippy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:17:54 +0000

Thanks.

I’ve spent a lot of time reading through these comments again and i’m not 99% sure that UMPCPortal stays now.
I am looking to tie a number of my projects together under one community and maybe include other sites like JKKMobile too. A common social network is being testing under MeetMobility.com right now.

Steve

By: Chippy

Chippy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:15:53 +0000

Morganj. You have a good point.
We only have one 24hr day and often a UMPC ‘buddy’ is with us for that continuous period and covers many scenarios.
Thanks for that thought.

By: admin

admin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:13:38 +0000

The graphic is auto-generated by Google. Many important events don’t appear on it.
Google Trends:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=umpc

By: Flaxs

Flaxs — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:54:41 +0000

Changing the name will not stop the decline of UMPC popularity but it could enable the site to migrate as conditions change. If you really want to change the decline then this site needs to influence the UMPC market to build better UMPC’s. As stated by others the real problems stem from these ultra mobile computers not providing a keyboard and being small enough to carry everywhere. Ranting about the name will not change the decline but focusing on the true problem will.

By: Schugy

Schugy — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:05:09 +0000

No action required.
We UMPC fans now visit mobilx, dynamism, trendsmobile and so on directly and our search terms are Everun, Viliv, Aigo and others.
Often one of the top search results is umpcportal.
Do we really need to change anything?

By: ssagg

ssagg — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:45:47 +0000

I´m with Monty
I´m not convinced with “Smart, mobile and internet connected” as it´s not the spirit of this site. It´s about UMPC´s (and a little about MIDs and netbooks even if I don´t sympatize with most of the last ones) and today even a PSP can be smart, mobile and internet connected.
BTW, I always thinked we are all (teh UMPCPortal readers) part of a Karass and that UMPCs are our wampeter (or at least this is what the good old Kurt would have thought). Does anybody else fell the same (or at least knows what I´m talking about?)

By: Monty

Monty — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:29:57 +0000

Chippy, Thanks to you (and jkk) I am the proud owner of a Viliv S5. I too was, and still am, a daily lurker on this website. I was looking for a small PC to replace my Dell Pocked PC and I avidly followed this site waiting for the right device to fit my needs and my pocket book. The first time I heard of Viliv was here.

One of the things I love about this website is the lively discussions in the comment section. I too found this site while researching the OQO which ultimately did not meet my needs either in battery life or price. As to form factor, everybody has a favorite. Some must have a keyboard, others like myself, would prefer that the keyboard space be filled with battery. And as to screen size… 4 to 10 seems a bit limiting since I personally would love my Viliv S5 to be stuffed into an iPhone form factor….mybe my next one…

Which segways me to the topic of this thread. When I was a kid..a loooong time ago… my parents started a business. Above the service window was the name of the store,”SOFT Icecream Shop”. Guess what we sold. The term “UMPC” may be heading out as a market acronym, but what it stands for is Ultra Mobile Personal Computer, which is still valid, the focus of this website, and probably why you chose it in the first place. My 2-cents is that you keep the name as it is and the tag line “The Ultra Mobile Personal Computing Portal”. If you are concerned about the name and decide to change it, then “UltraMobilePCPortal.com” gets my vote. Same name, no marketing search term, says exactly what this site is about.

By: Al

Al — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:15:31 +0000

As for the name I agree what about “Ultra Mobile Computing Portal”.

The problem of UMPC is that the lack of these devices to provide a more practical pocketable full PC has created a negative image with the acronym. If you want to improve on that and try to revitalize the image and thus the demand more efforts should be made to address the needs of UMPC’s to finally just provide a touch type keyboard in a jacket size format. There are always the few whom have purchased the current UMPC’s and continue to ignore the fact that they are the minority and the real market for UMPC’s will only occur if sites like this try to influence those companies to create devices that ARE not like all of the past UMPC’s as those have all failed to attract buyers.

Chippy, there is a huge market for a touch tpye keyboard pocket laptop and that is where you should try to let the UMPC companies be aware to develop new products. The more you just cator to the existing minority UMPC people whom think a touch type keyboard is not needed for full PC work the more this site can suffer the fate of UMPC’s.

By: John Young

John Young — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:54:06 +0000

Back when I was in journalism school (and dinosaurs roamed the Earth) we were taught never to use an acronym or abreviation without first spelling the name or term out in full. When I arrived at your Web site by following a few links from DPReveiw.com I had no idea what UMPC means — and you didn’t tell me! Maybe you are, at least in part, the authors of your own misfortune?