I ran across this blog entry entitled, Crazy UMPC People, and I had to ask myself, are we crazy?
Miles McCusker seems to be enjoying watching the theatrics going on in the UMPC blogosphere and I can't blame him. There are a lot of fascinating stories taking place as consumers' extremely high expections for their handheld devices collide with the manufacturers' creation of the ultra mobile device category. One recent example is the buzz surrounding the Wibrain B1 which has generated titles like "Only a mother could love this" and "hideous, yet strangely appealing."
I think that the UMPC story is capturing a lot of media attention because it represents an ideal device that sounds attainable, but so far device manufacturers haven't quite been able to really nail it yet. Manufacturers are churning out a wide variety of devices while trying to find the perfect balance in a myriad of design considerations: screen-size, form-factor, battery life, component costs, performance, wireless connectivity, software interface, hardware interfaces, price, and time to market.
Miles visualizes this intense process quite well:
There's a concept in air-conditioning and ventilation design that talks of 'hunting' or 'fan hunting'. It happens where the system as a whole is not in balance a vicious circle is set up where the fan speed will 'hunt' up and down, but never finding a steady resting place. I think the same thing is happening in the UMPC scene. Back and forth they go – 'productivity!', 'can't pocket', 'too big', 'screen too small', 'no productivity', 'not mobile', 'too big', 'hard to read', 'no keyboard', 'too heavy', 'lacking features'. Get the idea? Actually, I don't mind the fact they're stuck in that spin cycle, it's fun watching the whole thing go round and round.
When it comes down to the question of, are we crazy, I wouldn't call anyone in the UMPC community crazy. We have a number of very passionate bloggers who are helping out both consumers and manufacturers to get this device category right. When a lot of the mainstream media blew off ultra mobile devices when they launched last year, the UMPC community kept the dialogue going, communicating consumers' reactions to the devices and helping to spread the word about devices as they launched and became available.
I'm very proud of the UMPC community, they've done a tremendous job covering UMPC news and having the important public conversations that a new device category needs to have. Crazy? Try the iPhone people down the hall.
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