James Kendrick points to this Digital World Tokyo hands-on preview of the Sony UX50.
The UX50 runs the full Windows XP and has a touch screen, so I’m guessing someone with an MSDN subscription will try installing the Tablet OS on one of these as soon as they start shipping. (The article indicates that they will be available in the US by July for $1800.) Too bad Sony doesnt include a Tablet option–maybe the early adopters will lead the market here and start a switch campaign.
It’s interesting to ponder the price in comparison to the UMPCs. At $1800 the Sony UX50 isn’t going to be appearing in too many coat pockets, but it will get noticed. What it does do is set a nice reference point. Along with the OQO, DualCor, FlipStart, and Motion LS800 it illustrates what it demonstrates how a large number of features can be packed into a small, stylish system.
We’ll have to see how all of this unfolds. Will the Origami/UMPCs become the Model T’s of the coat-pocket PC market? Or is there more componetization and standardization needed to achieve this in order to drive UMPC prices down? At this point, I’d like to see UMPCs keep pushing the notion of standardization of components, rather than pushing the style envelope and cramming more gadgets into them than the competition.
One thing this whole UMPC story has reminded me of is how people are often way too optimistic about prices of new products. I remember back in the early 90s when chatter over the new Slate and Grid computers was spreading. For a long time people were predicting $500 holdable, slate computers. It made sense. Take away the keyboard. Squish down the display. Cut out some casing. It has to be cheaper, common sense would insist. It didn’t turn out that way. Nope, the first units were around $2000. It makes me laugh. The market’s expectation of UMPC prices went through a similar roller-coaster. Over 15 years later at we’re still bouncing around the same price points–although granted today’s $2000 is a lot smaller than 1990’s and, of course, today’s devices have much more horsepower and better displays.
Makes me think: Can you imagine what we’ll be getting for our $2000 after another 15 years of inflation? Let’s see, mainstream cars will be around $50K, houses $400K, and who knows how much for a graduate degree. $2000 will probably still be a good chunk of money though–and still difficult for a student to gather. Will will have a terabyte in a pocket? Or full, broadcast-quality broadband? Heh.