I’m in Vegas for MIX ’06–Microsoft’s first ever web “conversation”/conference about the web. Not sure what to expect, but already there are some cool things.
This evening Microsoft had some real Origami’s on display. From what I understand this was the first US conference where attendees can actually touch and play with an Origami.
In particular I got a chance to check out a TabletKiosk preproduction unit as well as a preproduction ASUS R2H. There wasn’t a Samsung unit. On display, however, were also a couple Motion LS800s and a Fujitsu 1510. Interestingly, all were popular.
While I was at the UMPC area there were lots of questions being fielded. How much do they cost? How are they different than a Pocket PC or a Tablet PC or a Media Center or whatever. What applications do they come with? Who are they for? And so on.
If UMPC devices were on sale right now how many would have been sold on first sight tonight just from this little demo area? It’s hard to tell, but I’m guessing at least a couple. Some people I could tell are serious gadget collectors. Others really like the idea of a small handheld computer for their kids. A couple other people I think became sold on Tablets in general after seeing the UMPCs. I bet this is going to happen more and more as UMPCs begin to hit the shelves. Once people consider the value of Tablets on the small scale, they wonder about how they could use a Tablet in their business lives. It’s not quite what I had expected, but makes sense. People are still learning about Tablets.