April 26th, 2006
Calibrating Origami expectations
It looks like general public availability of the first Origami (aka UltraMobile PC) devices will be a June/July event based on two recent reports about the new handheld devices. Both TabletKiosk and Samsung are now reported to be looking at June as the best case scenario for geting these sought after devices released.
TabletKiosk released a public statement yesterday that was well covered in the Tablet PC and UMPC blogs stating that a manufacturing glitch related to the case molding for their eo devices was unsatisfactory and that they had made the decision to suspend most pre-ordered shipments until they have resolved the issue. Today, Dennis Rice at GottaBeMobile points to a post by forum member Maverick at OrigamiPortal who contacted Samsung to check on the reported May 1 delivery and was told that this date was only for Korea. US and UK shipments will not take place until June and devices with GPS/DMB capabilities will probably not ship until July.
So much for my secret plan to get one for my wife for Mother’s Day! On second thought, this delay probably saved me from getting myself in big trouble. Chocolate, roses, good wine, and some new music is probably a safer bet.
Marc Orchant has been building, testing, and sometimes breaking hardware and software for 25 years. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
