Channel Insider published an article about future of UMPCs, including an interview with Mika Kramer, head of Microsoft’s new Windows Client Mobility Marketing Team. I consider it as a expectation and assumption list, rather than a strict product timeline. And although it looks like “Hey! There will be new UMPC vendors!” in the first page, it turns out to be another “In the distant future, prices will be around 500$ and everything will be better!” article on the whole second page.
“You’ll see an additional wave of UMPCs available in the holiday timeframe,” said Mika Kramer, head of Microsoft’s new Windows Client Mobility Marketing Team, a group within its Windows Client Product Marketing Group in Redmond, Wash. “We are seeing a lot more Tier 1 players get a lot more interested in releasing the UMPC.”
Ultimately, “they have a long way to go to get [the UMPC] to $500,” Shim said. “With a new device like this it helps to have a focused, targeted audience, and they don’t have it yet—they started with consumers and are now looking to appeal to businesses. Then you look at the value proposition, and it’s still too expensive.”
