More details on Origami
News.com has more details on the Origami. I’m getting a good look on Monday morning. Right before the team hops on a plane to go to the CeBit conference in Germany.
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Robert Scoble works at Fast Company.TV (title: Managing Director). Everything here, though, is his personal opinion and is not read or approved before it is posted. No warranties or other guarantees will be offered as to the quality of the opinions or anything else offered here.
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February 28th, 2006 at 2:31 am
Hey Robert, since you said you preferred to be contacted via your blog, and although this has nothing to do with the above post, I thought that maybe you’d like to have a look at http://www.atiki.com
It’s a “Social Feed Mixer”, hope you’ll enjoy it !
February 28th, 2006 at 2:41 am
An article in IT World, whose reliability one has to question since they have managed to get your name wrong
http://www.itworld.com/Comp/1235/060227origami/
February 28th, 2006 at 3:46 am
Well we all have seen the killer DualCor device at CES.. I think that is a Origami device on steroids compared to the simple tasks we have been seeing on the net..
February 28th, 2006 at 6:51 am
“Gates said at the time that significant hardware and software advances were still needed to make the Ultramobile 2007, as the prototype was dubbed, a reality. However, he said a 1-pound, 6-inch device that combines all the power of a PC, a phone and a camera for about $800 would be possible within a couple of years.”
Cringe.
February 28th, 2006 at 7:09 am
Yawn.
February 28th, 2006 at 7:34 am
There is some thought that its initial incarnation might appeal primarily to gadget aficionados, rather than mainstream consumers.
Gee you don’t say (and yes the sky is blue). Which is always the problem with these devices, but then the mainstream won’t even know it exists, and doubly so if Origami culls Marketing help from the DOA Tablet team. It will be like the Tablet, you will have to use to buy, it doesn’t sell itself. Even laptops took forever to hook mainstream, but now that they are in every office-supply store in existence, all shiny and demo-able, well it takes. No 11 Agency hawking junky Avertec’s needed. Tablets and the “Untablets” (credit to the ever-stellar Mary Jo) will be a hard sell, even tho the tech is there. The thing going against the Untablets, I don’t see the Vertical or Corporate story here.
Apple has this uncanny near spooky ability to hook people on devices, but then it can’t sell much in the way of computers or software. Microsoft makes billions by being boring and selling software as a commodity, yet seems to have this reverse Midas touch when it comes to the new device OEM model or their own hardware. And when they do manage to get the hardware right (overspending as they do), they always have supply chain-problems and component shortages beyond ever seen by mankind. Leaving their Marketing drones in this near Microsoft-patented no-man’s-land, for long periods of time.
The fact that this doesn’t bubble up from the OEM market itself and has to be grandfathered by Intel and Microsoft, speaks volumes. Sony and Toshiba already been down this path, but got the pricing wrong, with zilch Marketing.
February 28th, 2006 at 8:06 am
[...] Mr. Robert Scoble of Microsoft briefs about Origami project at Microsoft. Sounds very interesting but seems something like OQO to me. But I can be wrong because haven’t gone through details of the product. [...]
February 28th, 2006 at 8:07 am
The leaked ad is high on hip and low on sell. The device appears cumbersome and doesn’t, at first glance, appear to have any protective screens. Considering that I live off my Palm Zire and carry it around in my pocket I can’t see myself switching to this device despite the beautiful hires display. It’s too big. Where would I keep it? These are my first impressions. Obviously, I’d have to use it to really see, but with the latest PDA and phone trends of having empty mockups for display models I may not get that chance. It will be interesting to see what MS has in store for tonight.
February 28th, 2006 at 8:12 am
What should the Origami be ?
Every geek would have by now read on the details of the Origami project by Microsoft and would have seen the branding video. A similar thought has been on my mind for the past few months and if I ever…
February 28th, 2006 at 8:24 am
Hey Robert,
I hope Microsoft and its partners can have some quick turnaround on Oragami, once it’s released. When a new iPod is announced, you can buy it (or pre-order it) immediately. Nothing worse than building hype, then having to wait 8 months for someone to build it.
Love your Blog.
February 28th, 2006 at 8:41 am
My Dell Axim X30 mid has proved to be a remarkably physically durable and technically stable device. I’ve had it since July 2004 clipped to my belt in original slip-in holster ever since. It gets holstered unholstered up to 30 times per day - listening to mp3s, reading ebooks and webpage clips, making lists, checking calendar or contacts, checking email via wi-fi, checking phases of the moon and tides, tracking expenses. I’ve had a few Palm devices (older ones) which were as durable but no where as useful and powerful as the Windows Mobile Dell devices. The only thing I need more of is longer battery life and more storage, and of course, more horsepower..
If Origami can meet the stability and physical toughness of the Dell X30 and deliver more power (with WinXP) .. I am already in line. The name Origami intrigues .. is it a folding device? Flex-screen?
February 28th, 2006 at 9:13 am
“Apple has this uncanny near spooky ability to hook people on devices”
XBOX360 is very cool and I love my portable media center which can do so so many morre things then really anything out there today hands down, so I believe that MS has this ability as well
It boils down to who else is pushing for cool technology devices? MS seems to be the pusher
As always Apple likes to take very safe advances, look how long it took them to make a video player? PMC were doing that years before and still can do so much more then a IPOD with recorded TV etc. again Apple likes to make very safe advances while MS pushes the envelope
I want my Orgami!
February 28th, 2006 at 9:35 am
That is the point -you- think the Xbox 360 is cool and not the masses of people that have iPods. Apple just seems to be able to do such things right and hence their products take off unlike all the other PMPs out on the market and most of the other PMPs actually have a much better feature set than the iPod yet the sales of iPod dwarf everything else.
February 28th, 2006 at 9:56 am
“As always Apple likes to take very safe advances, look how long it took them to make a video player?”
And look how long it took them to dominate the video download market? 3 days. Meanwhile your XBox360 is performing worse than the first XBox with ZERO competition.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:14 am
Nope, no new details. Just a rehash of what’s been said over the last 2 days if not last 2 years. The hype machine that Scoble wants to “avoid” continues on.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:37 am
What about price guys? You really think it could win many people with mentioned (CNET article) price of 600 USD? Yeah, HP’s hx4700 was a good seller, but 600 USD (if confirmed) is still way too much for such device.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:43 am
Goebbels, why should I care if it took them 1 hour to dominate the download market or the ipod market unless I am a share holder or employee of Apple.
Scoble : Was the teaser video and other origami stuff on the net planted ? Sort of like a treasure hunt…
So that you can show something immensely better later this month?
But I forget this is MS we are talking about - hype > underdeliver :(
February 28th, 2006 at 10:47 am
met, you are the one that mentioned Apple. Why did you? Are you a shareholder or employee? Are you aware of the fact that YOU were the one who brought them up? Then why are you asking me why YOU should care? Ask yourself!
My response was along this line: you complained that Apple took a long time to enter a market; my response was that when they did they did it well and immediately dominated while all of your “early attempts” failed miserably.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:53 am
If it’s anything like OQO I would buy it in a heart beat. I haven’t bought an OQO cause my wife would beat the snot out of me but if I can show her the $500 alternative I might be able to get away with it.
February 28th, 2006 at 11:14 am
Digg just shored up an article stating that the video slip was intentional. Any comments?
February 28th, 2006 at 11:19 am
The leaked promo video was pretty sweet,but did anyone else notice something odd?
That guy was playing a first person shooter. He only had one joystick. You need a joystick to shoot & a joystick to aim, if you are not using a mouse.
Sure, you can hold down a button to lock the joystick into move and let up to aim, but that’s really cumbersome and almost no games support it.
I have once again become somewhat disenchanted with this device.
February 28th, 2006 at 11:29 am
James: the video is a prototype. It is not the final device. The video is a year old. You might want to come back next week and see what this team actually built before passing judgment.
BigDog: I don’t enough details so I’m not going to comment.
February 28th, 2006 at 11:48 am
No comments, just hype.
A new motto.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
Dude, Its still a Newton. (Or roughly what the Newton would have evolved to given current tech).
They even made the same form factor mistake. Its about the same size, which was both too small and too big (schizo focus) depending on how you were using it.
February 28th, 2006 at 5:56 pm
If the Origami is what they say it is at a 500-600 USD price I’d get it, like Hamster, in a heartbeat too. I’ve seen the OQO and that was precisely what I needed and wanted for my recent two-month citizen journalism trip to Asia. Since getting an OQO didn’t work out, I relied on Internet cafes - which was less than satisfactory experience, it really cut into my realtime blogging. The alternative was lugging my (way too heavy and theif-attracting) laptop around while backpacking - which was definitely out as I carry all valuables with me because you can’t trust leaving it in your room either.
I carry an old-fashioned pen-and-paper journal with me wherever I go. Besides the global road warrior, I think this could be perfect for creative people of all types to jot things down spontaneusly - designs, stories, lists, diagrams, storyboards, whatever - as it’s light enough to be carried around whenever inspiration strikes.
Looking forward to trying one out myself!
March 1st, 2006 at 7:00 am
Hi, I just want to point out that CeBit is not a “conference”, it’s the largest IT-Fair in the world.
Bye.
March 2nd, 2006 at 6:16 am
Microsoft Origami Ad http://akhater.wordpress.com/2006/03/02/microsoft-project-origami-ad/
enjoy
March 2nd, 2006 at 9:27 am
[...] Speaking of Origami, the countdown has begun…only one week to go… [...]
March 2nd, 2006 at 11:54 am
[...] What could make me purchase it at a higher price point? Are you listening, Microsoft/Intel/Samsung? [...]
March 2nd, 2006 at 12:45 pm
That Origami is just huge! I mean, 10 ounces, that’s like way over two hundred grams. Most phones today have to weigh about a hundred to be usable.
I mean, the Origami is so HUMONGOUS, it was a big gadget TWO YEARS AGO!
It’s going to flop so hard.
March 2nd, 2006 at 2:11 pm
M.: I didn’t realize you can run Photoshop on your phone. Hmmmm.