What a pleasure it was to have a few minutes (well it seemed like a few minutes) to take a look back at UMPCs from 2006-2010 at the Techlounge last week. If you want to know where the roots of the consumer-focused tablet are look no further than the Origami project. Others had done tablets before but Microsoft, Intel, VIA and a few manufacturers and brands did research from 2004 that resulted in the consumer-focused UMPC. While the research was correct (hat tip to Otto Berkes, wherever he is) the results, as products, were too big and lacked adequate software. Hey, It wasn’t until 3 versions of Windows later that it gained an internet-focused ‘share’ option! Perhaps the initial buzz was too much but there was certainly a craving for something out there. Origamiportal, the former name of this site, rose to 1.4 million page views per month until 2010 when Apple launched the iPad and took over the market. Intel never gave up and today we’ve got UMPCs costing just $99.
Sascha and Chippy look back at the UMPCs
Take a look at the video for a fun look back at 2006-2010 and some inside stories.
