Origami: the next Big Small thing

Will Microsoft take on Apple and Palm with its all-in-one consumer/business ultra-portable device?

Well, you’ve probably heard the news already - Microsoft is entering the persona-portble-cool-weired-widgets market with their own device… The device code named Origami (official name is UMPC which is spelled out like Ultra Mobile PC) is very compact all-in-one information device that is targeted as an iPod, Palm and BlackBerry competition. Origami sounds way cooler than UMPC though (I keep asking myself why the guys at MS are giving great code names like Indigo, Avalon and Origami, and the official naming is almost unpronounceable like WPF, WCF, UMPC, etc. ), so I’ll be mostly using the code name here. So where is the Origami project being developed? In MS research labs or in the marketing department? It looks like both are true:

Microsoft hides neither its iPod envy nor its lack of satisfaction with the Portable Media Center devices its partners have been producing. And no one from Redmond has denied reports that Microsoft has plans to get into the business of building its own family of iPod killers.

But I’ am betting Microsoft won't classify Origami devices as an MP3 player... Instead, Microsoft will convince its wizards in the market-research business to create a whole new category of all-in-one mobile communicators (better than Sidekicks; more comprehensive than Treos; able to leap even BlackBerries in a single bound!)

What's your take? Is it time for Apple, Palm and others to get some fresh competition? And is Microsoft the right company to deliver an all-in-one soaped-up device of this sort? Or are we way off-base in our educated guess that Origami will morph into a family of OrPods (OrigamiPods)?

By the way they have few (to be more precise three) flash introductory commercials. They are very stylish and I got involved from the moment I saw them, take a look… Commercial One, Commercial Two and Commercial Three…

For those of you who already got hooked up, Microsoft announced a real deal contest, the winners are getting a bundle of Origami devices produced by Samsung and a Slingbox™ by SlingMedia. The only thing you have to do is write an essay (no more than 250 words!) and being a legal resident of the 50 United States, and District of Columbia.

To recap, the device known as Origami/Haiku has a bright and interesting future as this article at the Seattle News clearly shows, so we will monitor closely the activities there. Expect nothing less than turning the mobile devices market upside-down when a player like Microsoft creates a new market niche with a high-tech device like Origami. And by the way the Origami team got a nice blog where you can read very interesting things, like the History of Origami by Otto (five parts for now).