If anything, it’s smartphones that are the ‘new market.’ UMPCs are just giving us the portable computing experience that PDAs always failed to deliver.

                           — Marc at Ilium Software

Last month, when I wrote my series on the Samsung Q1 UMPC, I repeatedly noted that there was no clear market for the device.  According to Microsoft, the UMPC is designed to fit into a niche between the laptop and Pocket PC markets…a niche which no one seems to be able to identify.

Marc at Ilium Software posted an excellent response to this concern on the Ilium blog.  He posits that while Microsoft has misstated the market, there is a clearly definable need for this device.  According to Marc, the UMPC does enough Pocket PC tasks better than a Pocket PC, and enough laptop tasks better than a laptop that it can come away with portions of both markets. 

While he acknowledges that there are still problems with the UMPC (battery life in particular), he see UMPC’s as the new PDA.   "If anything," he says, "it’s smartphones that are the ‘new market.’ UMPCs are just giving us the portable computing experience that PDAs always failed to deliver."

I am not sure if I agree with all of Marc’s points, however, it is a well written and well supported opinion.  It does not, however, address one of the largest problems with most of the UMPCs I have seen, the enormous price tag they all seem to feature. 

Read the full article at the Ilium Software Blog.

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