CeBIT unnovations

More than ever, the wireless circus focused on Barcelona rather than Hannover. That was Barcelona's first year and the CeBIT goes far beyond mobility, but still.
Samsung's 10 megapixel picturephone is no more a disruption than Sony Ericsson's 4 GB W950. xandros added UMTS to their Linux laptops but the technology was already a commodity. Microsoft eventually unfolded their Origami* but the UMPC (Ultra Mobile Personal Computer*) looks so much like the PDA all Samsung employees have been carrying everywhere in Korea for a couple of years. At the government's level, UK goes NGN and the EU goes RFID, but that's about time. I don't know how DVB-H is doing up there but France Telecom R&D seem to bet on Far East Asia (especially Korea and China) for mobile TV. What else ? Samsung will deliver DMB handsets in Germany on time for the World Cup, as expected**. With debitel as the entry point ; quite a disappointment. The industry eventually realize genuine VoIP over mobile requires HSUPA and a more mobile world requires more fiber. That was CeBIT CeLEBRATING 20 years of innovation.

Europe may remain the heart of GSM / 3GSM but for the rest, everything is being decided somewhere between Asia and America.


* see "Origami Project - a crush for paper tigers ?" (20060302). Before the take off, MS decided to nest their UMPC in the Windows XP environment : http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/umpc.
** see "Play it again, Samsung ?" (20060216).

Origami Project - a crush for paper tigers ?

Second week, second teaser on the Origami Project's website*. Microsoft being Microsoft and Origami being the art of paper folding, you must be patient and expect a full basket of wasted stuff before enjoying the real thing.
MS' viral marketing campaign started last year and will culminate next week at CeBit 2006. You can tell they're not familiar with viral marketing (except when it comes to spreading bugs, malware, spyware, stuporware...) : note the quantum leap between the first "hello" and the following "hi there" - what will it be next time : "Hang on", "Wait a sec'", "Got your attention ?", "Still there ?", "Pickaboo !"...?
The suspense is unbearable. How will the damn thing look like ? I guess something less steel-waffle-ish than Dualcor Technologies's cPC**, and something less ToysRUS-ish than the Ultramobile 2007 starring in last year's mini clips.
We already know its main and optional features : the PC DNA, the tablet PC assets (touch screen, pen, always-on, easy boot, easy break...), a medium-sized screen (rather 6 than 10 inches), wireless connectivity (Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, GPS, digital TV...), multimediapps (WMA & co, games, VoIP...), bizapps (MS Office, MS Server, MS Breakdown...), a few useful excrescences and holes (camera, USB port, card readers...), and of course the full Windows environment (including state-of-the-art BBS : Bugs and Blue Screen).
This iPod-killer / PSP-killer / mXbox was first supposed to cost under $800, then under $600, then again under $500... Come March the 9th, I expect under $400 and even under $300 for the launch : Microsoft are ready to lose more money than they did to help the Xbox survive its first years. Weakening Nintendo and Sony was a walk in the park, this will take much more.



* Origami project : www.origamiproject.com
** Dualcor Technologies : www.dualcor.com