Development

UMPC: Ultra Mobile Portable Computer

Are you guys familiar with the latest and greatest of all technological innovations to hit the streets? Well here is another one to add to the check list. The UMPC or Ultra Mobile Portable Computer is essentially a smaller version of the ever emerging Tablet PC. Windows hinted the existence of this device with earlier announcements of an iPod killer competitor in development. This could be it, or it is just another one of those platforms that Bill Gates has imagined we are all going to consume and use in our everyday lives as the “mobile professional.”

Introduced originally as “Origami,” the UMPC platform is a handheld computer based off of some derivative to the Tablet PC framework with another layer stacked ontop for easier navigation to your media, GPS and other dohickies. Maybe widgets. So Origami makes sense since it acts as a device that does, well, everything. You can check out the viral marketing here. In anycase, some manufacturers such as Asus and Samsung are on top of this and have developed the hardware to support such functionality. Imagine a laptop, except the size of three PDA’s lined up side to side that includes a sliding QWERTY keyboard swinging both directions. Comparative to other computing platforms, this is indeed ultra portable, but not something I would like to invest in for the time being. With Intel and Microsoft leading the front of this new category of computing, this won’t be going away.

Granted I am something along the lines of the very vision Bill Gates has, but to jump from my workstation, to my laptop, to a PDA and a cell phone is already a handful. I like having sperate devices that serve a specific need. Convergence is only great if done elegantly. Adding another device to the heap wouldn’t prove too helpful especially if it is just making something we already use into a smaller workable space. Personally I don’t see myself carrying this larger than PDA device around unless I was rocking a Louis Vutton tote. Alas, I live in Seattle, so that wouldn’t fly well either. Several things would need to happen before I can see myself using an all inclusive mobile computing device.

First, battery life needs to go beyond a few hours, but into days! or even one day at best. Luckily, researchers in Bell Labs is working to reinvent the battery and looking at commercializing “nanobatteries.” This sounds rather promising because it also holds the potential in self cleaning making it nature friendly. Alternative fuels like fuel cell and other advancements in different sources could work too. Hybrids even. As long as these devices can last everyday usage for a regularly scheduled day, then more people might opt in for these mobile devices.

Next would be affordable, or even free network connectivity. This is a whole big issue that won’t come about for a very long time, but a boy can dream right? Imagine having wireless connectivity to everything everywhere you go and that wireless protocols were standard and interoperable. Meaning, my UPMC can jump from WiFi, to WiMax, to HSPDA and Bluetooth securely without stuttering. Managing radio frequencies and having technology standards play nicely is yet another troubling issue, but something like cognitive radio might help remedy those issues.

Speaking of having widely available, seamless wireless connectivity, then services like VOIP, IPTV, internet radio and more imaginable possibilities comes to light. Communication could now be available through voice, text messaging and maybe someday video. The possibility of this happening will eliminate the need of current legacy teleco landlines. However, reliability and integrity of all this information must reach nearly 100% uptime before any switch can be made. Additionally, network externality is important to keep in mind when making a switch from one methodology to the next. More people need to use this technology in order to make it valuable. If you’re the first person to have a fax machine, it is worthless until someone else has one to fax something to. When the third person comes, the value is exponential. Another example is when I first read about Skype. I thought it was the coolest thing every and that everyone should be using it! Too bad the above two criteria were not fullfilled. Network connectivity is limited and no one I knew was really using it. It is only a matter of time that we will see anything big like this happening.

It seems like a pipedream, but it is happening slowly. Anyways, for those interested, UMPCs run for about $1,400 presale but can be somewhat affordable at the $800 price point.

Maybe these devices will become obsolete and everything is generated through holographic display technology that dynamically reads statistics through user settings and anticipates required information through a sophistocated network grid tracking your status in a Big Brotherly fashion. Sounds like Minority Report.