Ok, you got me. RadioShack has not announced a UMPC. They never will. But, if they did, it would look exactly like the alleged Averatec mock-up you see to the right. In fact, this would come as a kit that you built and soldered yourself. This is positively from the 1980s. This is a retro-UMPC before there is even a UMPC.
And that is why I think this is a complete fake. Averatec has no intention of releasing a device that resembles this. If they do release it, fine. I’m wrong. Big deal. But, the design team and the management team at Averatech should be fired post-haste. However, I think those folks can rest easy. If we can point fingers at anybody, it’s probably Averatec marketing.
And they should be promoted. Here’s why:
The results? Brilliant. There’s been all kinds of news pick-up and blogosphere chatter. I had never heard of Averatec until yesterday. Now I’ve just typed that name into this post at least 5 times. And so have dozens of other blogs and mainstream online outlets. And given that this is a leak, creating mystique and buzz for the Averatec (damn, I typed it again!) brand, there’s really no harm, no foul. No obligation to ever produce anything.
I actually hope I’m wrong though and this really is some sort of UMPC Frankenstein, constructed from the pieces of a Speak-n-Spell, PSP and a TRS-80. That would take guts. Right now, I just think it is clever marketing.
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If you look around Cnet.com’s reviews on laptops, you’ll find that Avertatec has made an ultraportable laptop which got pretty OK reviews, but most importantly, cost nearly half of what Sony’s and Fujitsu-Siemens competing laptops cost. So they do exist. And they’re not into the vaporware-biz.
OK, it doesn’t look all that beautiful, but neither does any other UMPC I’ve seen (save for the umpcfun.com model), but it does have an integrated keyboard and will probably sell for less than “too much”.