Otto Berkes is one of the true visionaries at Microsoft as witnessed by his UMPC/ Origami project. He’s the brain that pictured what an ultra-portable computer needed to be to fill the needs of consumers. He’s taken a look at the Asus EEE PC and his take on the ultra-portable notebook is spot on.
The Eee adheres to some of the core tenets of the ultra-mobile PC – a low-cost, highly mobile, full-fidelity companion computer. In fact, the Eee PC hits one of the key UMPC targets dead on; there’s one place where all of the other UMPC products missed – price. People expect mobile devices to be affordable! Asus’s R2H UMPC launched at a price point two to three times higher than the Eee, but the basic technology backbone was similar, with a 7” display, low-end Intel CPU/chipset, standard PC I/O and hardware compatibility. Sure, the R2H also has a hard drive, GPS, Bluetooth, a fingerprint reader and runs real Windows but the additional features don’t justify significantly higher cost. A $1000 companion device will have few takers regardless of functionality.
Good product design is ultimately as much about what to leave out as what to include. And with the Eee PC, Asus got a number of things right that they got wrong with their R2H. It’s small enough to toss in a backpack or bag, light enough to carry all day, inexpensive enough to afford as a secondary computer.
Otto (and Asus) gets it.
(via GottaBeMobile)
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