The Oqo was novel when the company first debuted: a small, ultra portable PC weighing 1 pound with slide-out QWERTY keyboard. But that was eight years ago.
The San Francisco Chronicle has a little feature Monday on the latest model ("latest" being relative since it actually launched in March of last year), in which it describes how the Oqo is being forced to "defend its niche" against the rise of the mini-notebook from the likes of Asus and Hewlett-Packard. The company cut the price, added Microsoft Vista, and bumped up the storage in September. The Oqo Model 02 is now $1,300.
With the rise of the mini-notebook, the UMPC is essentially toast.
(Credit: Oqo)The Chronicle also reports the company is doing $20 million in sales these days, after a lot of early hiccups, and boasts some high-profile customers, like Craigslist's Craig Newmark. While that's admirable, it's certainly not going to be enough.
We've reported on the rise of the inexpensive mini-notebook, and consumers are clearly finding them compelling as a secondary machine. Plus, the Oqo--and every other UMPC--has been hobbled from the beginning by high prices and an identity crisis, so Asus, HP, and soon Acer and several others, should have little trouble swooping in to eat Oqo's lunch in a fairly efficient and dispassionate manner.
To be fair, the Oqo is certainly pretty--the screen is bright and clear--but it's not very consumer friendly. It's heavy and with the slide-out keyboard, the form factor is more smartphone than mini-notebook.
But the biggest weakness of the Oqo is the price. Why someone would opt for the Model 02 instead of, say, the Eee PC, or now HP's Mini-Note, confounds me. The Oqo is $1,300. The 7-inch Eee PC from Asus starts at $399 with Windows XP, and though the keys are tiny, functions more like laptop and isn't that much bigger than the Oqo. The Mini-Note from HP comes with Vista starting at $599.
Speaking strictly in terms of technology, what Oqo has done to fit a full PC into such a small package is obviously impressive. But usability and having a distinct usage category are so much more important when looking for mainstream consumer success in the gadget world.
First seen at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the mystery handheld Lenovo was showing off now has a name.
The IdeaPad U8 was unveiled at the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai Tuesday along with a few more tidbits about what it's packing inside.
(Credit:
Lenovo)
We already learned at CES that it runs Linux, is Web-enabled, has GPS, plays music, and takes photos.
By the name, IdeaPad, we can assume it's a consumer device, since IdeaPad is the name of Lenovo's newest line of consumer-oriented notebooks. We also know now that Intel considers it an MID (mobile Internet device), and it uses Intel's new Atom processor. The IdeaPad U8 also uses a touchscreen display, and will run some Microsoft Office applications.
Check out this video over at UMPC Portal of the U8 in action.
It's still only available in China. Western consumers have largely ignored MIDs like the Samsung Q1 and others, due to a combination of low power, less-than-desirable battery life, and awkward form factor, though the combination Atom processors and Linux could possibly change that if it were to make its way here eventually.
Much has been made of Dell's retail makeover, but it's actually part of a larger trend toward experimentalism.
The company that has largely avoided unproven product categories is jumping all over them suddenly. Case in point: several years ago, when Microsoft was pushing tablet computing, Dell was fairly adamant that, no thanks, tablet PCs weren't something the company was interested in making.
"I think it is really unknown at this point how big the market is," CEO Michael Dell said in a 2002 interview about tablet PCs. "Dell, of course, likes to participate in high-volume markets, and until we can determine the size of the market we are not ready to decide at what level we will participate."
The Latitude XT is Dell's first foray into tablet computing.
(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET News.com)Fast-forward to late 2007, when Dell introduced its first tablet PC, the Latitude XT. Tick forward some more to this week when the second version, the Latitude XT2, was leaked onto the Web. Tablet computing, to Microsoft's chagrin, still has never really taken off--tablets comprised 3.25 percent of the worldwide notebook market in 2007, according to market research firm IDC. Yet, Dell's staking out its claim in that category.
So what's changed? Well, almost everything.
"The old Dell was about how everything had to improve with scale. In other words, any fixed cost investment had to get more profitable with volume," said Roger Kay, analyst and president of Endpoint Technologies. But after the leadership change a year ago, "Michael (Dell) said there were no sacred cows when he took back over."
Now Dell can't seem to stay out of niche markets. Besides the Latitude XT, in the last year Dell has launched a ruggedized laptop, a consumer-friendly all-in-one desktop, and began offering Linux pre-installed on some PCs. Plus, there's constant chatter about the company re-entering the handheld market.
The PC industry is moving toward increased mobility, so tablets and rugged notebooks are part of a larger trend. But they also represent opportunities that Dell can't afford to miss anymore.
In Dell's heyday, its mammoth commercial computing clients would choose a variety of machines they wanted Dell to supply; if one of them was too much of a niche product, Dell would simply partner with a manufacturer that did make it.
"But now they're saying, we don't want to keep giving away those opportunities because that's decent margin (being left) on the table," said Richard Shim, PC analyst for IDC. Now, "they go out and create their own versions of these products."
Within the overall trend toward mobility, commercial clients, and even consumers, are demanding more and more specific usage models, and Dell, it seems, is trying to adapt.
"The market is evolving beyond generic solutions. There are new opportunities in more specialized products," said Shim.
Evolution seems to be the name of the game down in Round Rock, Texas, these days. The company has undergone a major transformation of its business plan since Michael Dell stepped back into the executive suite as CEO.
Along with that has come this marked shift toward experimentalism at the 20-year-old company. Though Dell's hallmark for its first two decades in business was its sharp, efficient supply chain and direct-to-customers sales model, now you can find a Dell almost anywhere you look: Best Buy, Staples, Wal-Mart Stores, and more.
Its product choices are different, too. "In the past, Dell would adopt new technologies faster than most, but new products more slowly," noted Kay. While it was happy to move from one processor generation to the next fairly rapidly, Dell was far more circumspect about getting into a niche market like PDAs or music players. Of course, Dell's expertise has always been in the enterprise market, which isn't particularly fast-moving. But targeting consumers is a different animal--they expect more product innovation and faster product cycle times.
Dell's ruggedized laptop, a first for the PC maker.
(Credit: Dell)In trying to garner more consumer attention, Dell also has been more adventurous, with firsts for it like colored laptops last summer, the stylish design of the XPS laptop line, and the XPS One, an iMac-esque all-in-one PC. Dell even went as far as co-branding the XPS gaming line with World of Warcraft.
"It's more like they're dropping a lot of bait in the water to see what works," Kay noted.
Sure, Dell is trying a lot of new things, but it's got to do something different. No longer the largest seller of PCs overall, it's also recently fallen behind the Acer-Gateway-Packard Bell behemoth in notebook sales.
"They have to be risky to reverse their misfortunes here," Shim said. "That takes time when you're trying to change your personality. I'm sure they'll make missteps along the way because everyone does. But the positive is that they are making these changes. The writing is not just on the wall, it's in neon."
Rumors continue to persist about Dell getting back into the handheld business.
The latest is from Digitimes (which should be taken with a grain of salt) which is reporting that Dell has placed orders with several Asian manufacturers for smartphones, PDAs, and GPS devices. Digitimes says those devices would run Windows Mobile. That differs from the rumor floating around in late January that Dell was about to announce an Android-based handset.
As of this writing, Dell had not yet responded to requests for comment.
After axing the Axim, above, is Dell placing orders for a new handheld product?
(Credit: CNET Networks)It's been almost a year since the company ended production of its popular Axim handheld, and even longer since it brought on Ron Garriques from Motorola to run the company's consumer business.
So what is Dell up to? Its biggest competitors, Hewlett-Packard and Acer, both have made commitments to this product category. Acer recently showed how serious it's taking this market when it purchased smartphone and PDA maker E-Ten earlier this month for $290 million.
An industry source tells CNET News.com that at least back in November Dell was considering devices with screens under 7 inches.
What that device is or could be isn't clear--a GPS player that does video, a smartphone that plays music? But it could be that Dell is just throwing around some ideas, trying to stake out a place in the market, sensing how active it is and will continue to be.
"The question is, what do you position in that space?" said Roger Kay, analyst and president of Endpoint Technologies. "It's likely to be a high-volume market at some point, and you wouldn't want to be left out."
Plus, Intel's new Atom processors mean that there are better options for makers of small devices. Dell could be "responding to the availability of the silicon by preparing a device," Kay pointed out.
(Credit:
Innovations for Learning)
Brazilian schoolchildren aren't the only ones not waiting around for the much-delayed One Laptop Per Child computer--many kids are turning to alternatives right in the USA.
Non-profit Innovations for Learning today launched the "Teachermate" in Chicago public schools, a $50 handheld device that it calls "the world's most affordable solution for providing one computer to every student in a classroom." It's obviously not the most powerful handheld, but it should be plenty for the kids in kindergarten through second grade for whom it is intended, with a 2.5-inch color LCD, built-in microphone and speaker, 200MHz ARM processor, 512MB of memory, and a 4-hour battery. "Software for the handhelds includes a complete K-2 reading and math program that aligns with the Chicago Public Schools' reading and math initiatives," according to its press release.
Today's launch focuses on all 500 of Chicago's public elementary schools, which will receive the devices over the next two years under a program funded by JP Morgan Chase and the Chicago Community Trust. Other cities to get the computers include New York, Detroit, New Orleans, San Antonio, Phoenix, and Denver.
And remember, if you want to get an even earlier head start, there's always the "Baby Laptop."
PDAs aren't dead yet. Nor is Intel's XScale chip technology. Hewlett-Packard's new, attractive big-screen handheld packs an application processor that still includes plenty of Intel's XScale DNA.
HP iPAQ 210
(Credit: HP)HP is now shipping production units of the long-awaited iPaq 210 (originally slated to ship last year) that features a 4.0-inch, 640x480 (VGA) resolution screen. The 210 (which is rebranded internationally as the 211, 212, and 214), comes with a Marvell PXA310 processor running at 624MHz, 128MB of memory, and 256MB of flash ROM.
Though Intel sold the business that made XScale processors to Marvell more than a year and a half ago (June 2006), Marvell is still making processors based on Intel technologies. Marvell states that the PXA3xx processor family "is the third generation of applications processors based on Intel's XScale technology." The PXA310, made on a 90-nanometer process, includes Intel SpeedStep technology, Intel Wireless Trusted Module encryption technology, and an Intel Wireless MMX 2 co-processor.
Marvell also makes a PXA320 that can achieve a clock speed of 800 MHz. (See graphic below.)
The iPaq 210 features both compact flash and a SDIO (Secure Digital Input/Output) slots. SDIO cards, more advanced than typical SD memory cards, can house a Bluetooth adapter, Wi-Fi adapter, Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, television tuner, and a number of other devices.
Marvell PXA320
(Credit: Marvell Technology)LAS VEGAS--At Lenovo's press dinner the other night there was an unidentified handheld on display, sitting casually next to the three new consumer-friendly IdeaPad laptops the company had come to Las Vegas to push.
(Credit:
Lenovo)
(Credit:
Lenovo)
No one--not even the PR people for Lenovo--could give me specific details. All they could say was that it is only available in China, the company's home market. This video gives a bit more detail, including that it runs Linux and uses a new 45-nanometer chip from Intel.
From what I saw, it had a lot of nice features, even if it was a bit hefty: GPS, music, Web browsing, a camera, plus several-layer-deep menus I didn't have time to delve into.
No word on whether it's something planned for the North American market any time soon.
View complete CES 2008 coverage from CNET.
Will a bigger hard drive and a slightly lower price tag move more UMPCs for Oqo?
Oqo has updated its Vista-powered handheld computer, and knocked 33 percent of the cost, bringing it down to $1,299.
Oqo Model 02 gets an update.
(Credit: Oqo)The San Francisco-based company has increased the hard drive capacities of both versions of the model 02. The entry-level went from 30GB to 40GB and the higher-end from 60GB to 80GB. Plus, now there's a 32GB flash-based option. They've also slightly upped the CPU speed to 1.6 Gigahertz.
But it has yet to solved the in-between nature of its concept. It's still either clunky yet powerful PDA or an awkwardly sized laptop. New CEO Dennis Moore declined to say how many have sold to date. He did say that the company has sold "thousands per month" and that the second quarter of this year saw more sales than all of 2006, as did the third quarter. The model 02 was announced at CES this year and began shipping in March.
Though $200 cheaper is good, the product likely be attractive to more customers when the price is in between too.
HP iPaq 110 Classic Handheld
(Credit: HP)Ha! And people thought the PDA was dead. Today, HP introduced two new models to its iPaq line of handhelds: the HP iPaq 110 Classic Handheld and HP iPaq 210 Enterprise Handheld. Now, in this day and age of smart phones, will this type of classic PDA fly? I say yes. There are still plenty of people who want one device for organizing their contacts and appointments while keeping their cell phone separate. And heck, since Dell exited the handheld market in April and there hasn't been a new PDA from Palm in years, HP fills that void. Both devices are expected to start shipping in late October, while pricing has not been finalized at this time.
So if the name didn't give it away, the iPaq 110 is more for the everyday user--the student, the do-it-all supermom, the mobile professional. There's no revolutionary technology in here, but that's not to say, it's a snoozer. The PDA runs the latest Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition and comes with integrated Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi. It's nice and trim at 4.5 inches tall by 7.1 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep and 3.6 ounces and features a 3.5-inch, 240x320 pixel touch screen. Underneath, the iPaq 110 is powered by a 624MHz Marvell PXA310 processor and 256MB Flash ROM and 64MB SDRAM.
HP iPaq 210 Enterprise Handheld
(Credit: HP)Meanwhile, the HP iPaq 210 will appeal to only a certain portion of the audience, namely vertical markets such as the medical profession. This business-centric handheld comes with advanced tools, such as HP's Enterprise Mobility Agent, a certificate enroller, and VoIP support. It's also equipped with a 24-pin connector and a mini USB port for terminal attachments such as bar code readers. Other highlights of this Windows Mobile 6 PDA include Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g with WPA2 security), a 4-inch, 262,000-color, VGA touch screen, 256MB of Flash ROM, 64MB of SDRAM, a voice recorder, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
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Oqo has started to ship a new model of its handheld Windows computer. Now all the company needs is customers.
The new computer, officially model 02, is a full-fledged Windows XP computer that comes with optional broadband wireless from Verizon or Sprint. It costs $1,499 and is available here..
The trick is that it fits into a person's hand, similar to those devices from Samsung or Taiwan's Hi Tech Computer Corp. (Hi Tech announced a handheld Vista-based computer this week.). Sony has a few in Japan.
Oqo, however, can lay claim to being in the market the longest one in the market. The company had a coming out party in 2002 on the eve of WinHec. The first models came out with a Transmeta processor. (The new model uses a Via processor, similar to some of Samsung's machines.)
It finally launched its product 2.5 years later, followed by a subsequent upgrade.
These computers are cool, but you don't see a lot of them in the wild. So far, I've seen two: one was owned by a chip executive whose job it is to sell processors to companies making tiny computers and the other belonged to an industrial designer. Do those really count?
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