Dan writes on his blog, an open letter to Microsoft, Sure a lot of us would be feeling the same as himself…
Dear Microsoft,
As a devout “early adopter” and self-proclaimed gadget nerd, I waited with enthusiasm for the UMPC’s release. Starting with the original Origami rumors and hype campaign, I followed every gadget blog and web forum for the inside scoop. When I saw the release specs and information, I was impressed with what I saw [...]
I had a Samsung Q1 in my hands at Fry’s Electronics a week ago. I played with it and thought of all the fun I could have with it. I would no longer need to carry the laptop on trips. I would no longer have to carry separate devices for web browsing, personal organizing, or portable media. It would do it all.
But why, then, did I not purchase it already? [...]
Go ahead read it [An open letter to Microsoft]
Microsoft’s marketing is bad enough when it comes to fluffy hype. But listening to the random rumors on various blogs is pointless. Anyone can make up a graphic and start a rumor. So complaining to Microsoft when Microsoft’s not the one who marketed the product is silly.
Well, I don’t think your statement answers the letter to Microsoft, but you do make a point. Dan writes a letter to Microsoft because of the fact they announced initially that the product would be around the price of $500 to $700, With that in mind they should have chosen or made it clear to the manufacturers that this should be the price range.
Instead by choosing Intel, and say Samsung(for discussion sake) the price was obviously higher than the expected. I think Microsoft had a role to play in the pricing.
A lot of us know that it was MICROSOFT which markets the UMPC, along with Intel and few other partners.
Verdicus: I will agree with Joe’s comment, but also add that my direct point was this:
There’s no good reason to buy a UMPC at the current price point, so if Microsoft (the champions behind the form factor) wants their new platform to take off, they’re going to need to give it better backing OR give consumers a reason to spend $1,100 on the product.
If there was some value-add that made it worth $1,100 out of the box, I wouldn’t complain. Say it came with GPS software and a bluetooth GPS receiver: That’s a $300 (ish) value there. Say it had a PC card slot and Verizon partnered with them to offer their wireless broadband and knocked $200 off the price with the purchase of a data plan.
My point wasn’t just “lower the price” … it was “either lower the price or make it worth that price to consumers. Microsoft has the power to do both.