Steven “fyiguy” Hughes had an opportunity to get some questions answered from Otto Berkes, general manager of the Mobile Platforms Division at Microsoft Corp.
Steve : Who is the target user? Many people are confused at what the market target is. Will the UMPC be replacing the Portable Media Center, Tablet PC, Windows Media Center, Windows Mobile device, etc or will it be a compliment to those devices?
Otto : While we feel that UMPCs will eventually be of great use to a number of different audiences, we anticipate the strongest interest off the bat from media and technology enthusiasts and early technology adopters. UMPCs do not compete with either Tablet PCs or Windows Mobile devices. The UMPC is part of Microsoft’s vision of expanding its mobile Windows PC offerings while incorporating mature features from Tablet PCs in a broader range of PCs. In addition, the UMPC is a great complement to Windows Mobile phones, which can be used as Bluetooth modems to enable a wireless wide area network (WWAN) scenario for constant Internet connectivity. The UMPC is also a great complement to other Windows PCs, such as Tablet PCs or Media Center PCs. Files can be easily synchronized using USB drives or products such as Microsoft FolderShare.
