After months of cryptic Web marketing and word-of-mouth hype over Microsoft Corp's Project Origami, the firm finally showed off the product: an ultracompact computer running Windows XP with a touchscreen and wireless connectivity.
It's everything a full computer or laptop is, minus the keyboard. It has a 7-inch (17.8cm) touch-sensitive screen that responds to a stylus or the tap of a finger.
Two models from different manufacturers are expected to hit stores shelves by spring, and Microsoft says they'll be about 2.5cm thick and weigh less than 1.1kg -- about the size of a large paperback book.
PHOTO: AP
It will run on a full version of Windows XP, the same operating system used on larger tablet PCs, and newly developed software called Windows Touch Pack will handle touch-screen functions. Future editions will support Windows Vista, a version of Microsoft's flagship operating system that's due out in the second half of this year.
"It really opens up new possibilities for PC use," Bill Mitchell, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Mobile Platforms Division, said on Wednesday.
The device was to be officially unveiled yesterday at CeBIT, the annual technology trade show in Hanover.
It won't be called Origami. Instead, the company is marketing it as a category it's calling the ultramobile PC, said Mika Krammer, a marketing director for Microsoft's Windows mobile unit.
Though Microsoft is not manufacturing the hardware, it took a guiding role from the start.
"We've done more than just provide the software. We've built the reference designs to sort of get the category started," he said. "We had the first prototypes about nine months ago and started working with partners early on."
One of those partners is Intel Corp, which makes the Celeron M microprocessor that runs the device. Three companies have built working models -- Samsung, Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc (
The Samsung and Asus devices are expected to be in stores by next month, and the Founder device in June, Krammer said.
"A lot of the early engagement we have had has been with nontraditional PC vendors, although there is a lot of interest from traditional PC vendors as well," Mitchell said.
"It ideally brings the best of what a Windows PC is and marries it to what the best of a very capable consumer electronic device is," he said.
That, said David Bradshaw, an analyst with London-based Ovum, is key.
"I really would hope that it would be something that works," he said, adding that he had not seen one of the models.
"Hopefully it will have a wide range of wireless options so that you would be able to use Wi-Fi when available or a [wirelesss] carrier's network if you can afford to pay through the nose," he said.
Krammer said that the device is expected to retail for between US$600 and US$1,000.
Origami, Mitchell said, sports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless access. At CeBIT, he said they were using their models by connecting their cellphones to it via BlueTooth.
The screen is wide, bright and easy to see, even in low light. Mitchell showed a music video on one model and a film on the other. It doesn't have its own keyboard, but since the units are designed with USB 2 ports, one could be plugged in as needed.
The battery power averages about 2.5 to three hours, and it will have up to a 60-gigabyte hard drive.
Mitchell said the device is aimed at consumers who want to have the full power of a PC while on the go, but don't want to lug around a heavy laptop or desktop PC.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from