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so is this “iTouch” and AMPC or Apple Mobile PC? it sure seems to me like it’s a quick conversion of a product by apple to combat the UMPC? It sure hits the price point the UMPC seems to be looking for, while it may not have top notch features, it sure seems like it will get into the markets better than the UMPC. Should UMPC’s be scared?

I’ll admit it, the more Apple products I’ve seen lately the more impressed I’ve become with them. Although get the jkontherun kids their iPhone rebates please!

I’ll preface this with, yes i’m back. I was teaching at a technology summer camp for the past month and a half and well its hard to keep up on things when working just about 14 hours a day nonstop. Mea Culpa.

Back to the issue at hand. What is a UMPC. Is it a mini-laptop?

I’ll say a mini laptop is such. I miniature laptop. NOT an ULTA MOBILE device.

Sony Picturebook (C1VN)

IS NOT

OQO model 02

My logic is simple. Laptops are mobile yes. Ultra Mobile is implying something more than mobile. Laptop are portable. A Mini laptop is small and portable. I haven’t fallen entirely out of the loop but I would like to challenge Steve, any of the GBM or JKonTheRun gangs to specify what makes UMPC’s special, but I’d beg to ponder the fact that their touch-screens, and full operating systems have a lot to do with it. Also within the UMPC “definition” if we must be so caught up in it, has also to do with the fact that they are full blown computers. Bjorn playing Quake, anyone? My opinions are that keyboards are sometimes a necessary evil. Yes i’ve got an organizer pack on my Q1b, but that’s because when in class i do a bit of typing. Cause and effect. What is it? I’d offer that a tiny laptop is not a UMPC. Size isn’t an issue…. (or its not the only issue… or….)

This is now two larger tech blogs singing their praises over the oqo model 02. Hugo loves the thing even though he’s on his fourth. Now, also Dennis Rice from GottaBeMobile picked one up as well. I’m thinking I need to find one of these computers to play with because they seem quite possibly to be the end all in mobile computing. But both of these very intelligent chaps seems to have forgotten something people got up on many a soap box just about a year ago over. Price. The oqo model 02 starts at 1,499 and the version which natively has Vista sets the poor buyer back nearly two grand at 1,849!

Now i’m not out to get on the oqo model 02 and say its a sub par computing machine. The idea for this post actually came when I saw a picture of the oqo on John Chow‘s site. It seems that little device sure its getting lots of exposure. Lots of exposure and great reviews from people who know their mobile computing devices. Now my only question is will oqo make their model 02 more affordable or do i just have to keep saving my money?