We see no point in ignoring the real facts. UMPC is a term in decline and has been for the last 18 months. Despite 2009 seeing more UMPCs than ever before and customer numbers remaining solid, the keyword trends are changing. We’ve held up well and, to be honest, have been one of the longest lasting businesses in the UMPC market so I don’t feel too sad about it but I think there’s a crossroad coming up. I actually think the market itself, the sales numbers and number of new products is on the up and that mobile internet-based productivity is a hotter topic than ever so while the term ‘UMPC’ is dying off, its soul continues. I’m certainly not experiencing a lack of things to write about!
The question is, how do we, UMPCPortal and the UMPC community of bloggers, manufacturers, resellers and fans, adapt to the change in keyword fashion and the increasing number of options in the MID, smartphone and netbook market? How do we best position ourselves to be able to help and assist new people coming into the market and to grow and improve in the future?
It’s getting close to decision time on UMPCPortal and we have some choices. We’ve always covered the high-end of smartphone ‘computing’ to the smaller and lighter end of netbook computing so if we were starting afresh, our name would reflect that wider coverage. On the other hand, there are a lot of people that come here because of the name!
My personal thought it that there needs to be a split between professional, productive devices based on desktop operating systems and aimed at the high-end and specialist end of the market, and consumer focused devices running consumer-friendly operating systems. MIDMoves is one place we could do the consumer stuff while leaving the professional stuff here. With a common forum and product portal, it could work as two front doors to a great customer learning experience with a common community and product information database.
What do you think? There are nearly 400,000 people that visit here each month so it’s important I try and do what’s best for new and existing visitors. If I lose too many visitors, everything comes crashing down. If we increase visitors, we stand a better chance of improving the site, our contacts and our coverage in the future. We also increase our chances of having a real voice and representing what the customers REALLY want. What YOU want.
What do you think is best for the future of UMPCPortal and the ‘UMPC’ community?
