Will 2007 Be The Year Of The Ultra Mobile PC - Article Follow Up

info@santry.com — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 06:00:00 GMT

Layne Heiny writes a follow up to my article "Will 2007 Be The Year Of The Ultra Mobile PC?" which was recently picked up by webpronews.com.

In my article, concerning the confusion over what the UMPC is; I have the following question:

Was it a Tablet PC, or was it a laptop?

Layne goes on to discuss how the term laptop bothers him and how that form factor was gone long ago. In response, to that term, I disagree that the form factor is gone. Being a developer myself, I go for the biggest computer with the power and screen real-estate I can get. Currently I'm using a Dell Precision M60, granted Dell lists it in their Notebook line. But a 7+ pounder is hardly something I would consider a notebook. I think in the industry many use the term interchangeably.

I think the confusion is honest one. Layne goes on to discuss the evolution of the form factors from ultra-portables, laptops, notebooks, and ultra-notebooks. And then goes on to say how not using the correct term confuses consumers.

He also states how he dislikes the term devices and basically to use the correct terms.

All in all, correct terminology is great, but for the non-tech type person this gets confusing. If you ask my kids what my Samsung Q1 is, they'll say "A computer". If you ask my wife what my desktop is or my laptop/notebook is she'll say "A computer or laptop". If I ask my friends, relatives and anyone who is not in the tech industry, they'll say the same.

It is my opinion when you create terminology that varies excessively across form factors you confuse the consumer. Consider UMPC, Intel runs a UMPC site, other companies use the term UMPC interchangeably with Windows Mobile devices, and devices running XP. Throw Origami in and it all gets confusing.

The one thing Apple, Inc. has done very well over the PC industry is reduce the confusion over branding (being the Microsoft fanboy I am, I hate admitting this). A "device" with Apple is either an "Apple", a "Mac" (which is an apple), or an "i" something like the "iPod" and now "iPhone". The consumer knows clearly from their strong branding what exactly the device is and who manufactures it. I know of nothing like this in the PC industry. Think about it, when iPhone was announced by Apple, instantly people knew what it was, and pretty much what it did.

When we look at the PC industry on the other hand we see: SmartPhone, Windows Mobile Device, UMPC, Origami, Notebook, Laptop, PDA, Tablet PC, desktop, and on, and on. But when you ask the average consumer what they are they'll tell you "computer". Branding is very weak in the PC industry, Xbox, and Zune are good trends towards simplifying the terms and creating a brand.

The branding weaknesses are expected however, since Microsoft is a software company that enables the hardware. They work with many vendors who also have branding issues they want to express, but in the long run it creates too many terms, and too many changes of terms down the road causing confusion in the market place.