Fake Steve Jobs has been exposed. Fake James Kendrick has exposed himself. Fake Steve Balmer is still a mystery but not as funny as fake Steve Jobs. Large parts of Pamela Anderson have been fake for years and Kevin Tofel picks this point in time to take on take on fake UMPC’s. He argues the hippie love theory of UMPC’s that anything that wants to be a UMPC can be one. That the definition is not important any more.
I disagree. I’m not arguing for a Champagne like definition of UMPC’s (if it’s not from Champagne, France you must call it sparkling something or other) but I think that some definition is important. Yes there are lots of UMPC like devices out there. An expansive definition includes the iPhone and the Nokia n800. But if someone claimed the Nokia n800 was a “Tablet PC”, the community would scream that it didn’t meet the definition of a Tablet PC. The Tablet PC community has worked hard to establish their definition.
Why is the definition important? Picture this conversation:
“What’s that?”
“It’s a Nokia n800 UMPC”
“Can I do all my normal computing tasks with it?
“No but you can do web browsing and email anywhere.”
Now one more potential UMPC user is misinformed. They see the UMPC as a Windows Mobile style device instead of a full PC and write off the whole category.
As for the iPhone, with a nod to Fake Steve Jobs, no hardcore Apple fan is going to call an iPhone a UMPC. If Apple doesn’t want to join the club leave them out! Real Steve Jobs still has a Newton shoved so far up his butt that we may never see a tablet style PC from Apple. So be it.
There is a part of me that does want to dump the UMPC definition entirely and lump all Windows based UMPC’s in with Tablet PC’s as one big category of portable computers with pens. Across the spectrum you can get touch, outdoor screens, keyboards, big, little and in between screens; big, little and in between prices. The common element is the pen, the tablet bits in windows and the ability to complete your normal work with it.
The big question in my mind is if the UMPC category is as big a flop as the media claims it is, why is everyone trying to claim to be a UMPC? We’ve seen a lot of fakes. How about some reality in the UMPC space?
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“The big question in my mind is if the UMPC category is as big a flop as the media claims it is, why is everyone trying to claim to be a UMPC? We’ve seen a lot of fakes. How about some reality in the UMPC space?”
Well said, I swear, 90% of the people that try to put the UMPC market down have never even used the devices!