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Origami Feedback Mixed, says Samsung
Ben Camm-Jones writes "Citing a mixture of reactions from customers who bought its Q1 device, Samsung has said that the pre-launch teaser campaign run by Microsoft about the Origami project may have been misleading."
Nor have they ever released vaporware.
...
By definition vaporware is never released
Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do!
So, Microsoft hyped a product (that seems to do take a good jab at it's niche), and someone says it *looked* like it might have done something else. When I see an add for a BigMac on TV, and go in to buy one, it's not *as* big or *as* juicy as in the commercial, but still worth it. So, marketers promoted a product? Big deal.
I think it all comes down to battery technology. We don't have the battery tehnology to make something like Origami really useful yet. IMO, it needs to have at least 8 hours of battery life at the minimum.
When I first saw the Oragami teaser site, and read articles speculating what it was, i thought it was that blue and white cell phone looking thing that folded into a few different combinations (i can't find a picture right now...can someone help?). Then when the countdown was over, they showed this honking thing, basically a bit smaller than a tablet pc. There is no market for that. It's still too big. Anything bigger than a cell phone is too big to be convenient. Similarly, anything bigger than a cell phone should probably have been designed and marketed as a non-portable device, since if most people can't fit in in their pocket or a small clip on their belt, it just can't be called "portable". I don't carry my laptop clipped to my belt. It would have been time better spent if they modified a PDA to do everything these things do.
My name is Wootzor von Leetenhaxor
At the end of the day the teaser campaign was mishandled. This kind of product is a tough sell at the best of times - as shown by the relative failure of the tablet PC. Samsung have a good product, but at the price of a very good laptop it's a near impossible sell. People like keyboards for serious work and there still isn't enough processing power or good enough software to make handwriting recognition a suitable alternative.
,as was, was hyped to the moon and back but at the end of the day disappointed. Maybe it's a sign of the tech market - we tend to like less fluff and more hard facts?
But it was the teaser campaign that really hurt the product. Trying to run a teaser campaign that would grasp the news agenda at the same time as the world's biggest trade show like CeBIT might have sounded good but it annoyed a lot of journalists. At the same time the hints we did get on features were so inflated that when the final product came out it was a big let down.
Teaser campaigns are notoriously difficult to pull off. Look at the Segway for example. 'Ginger'
Oragami was not a revolutionary product. It was is not even an xbox. What it is is a product that really doesn't exist, and the initial marketing was done for the benifit of the fer vendors who took a chance to manufacture it. Not that MS did not take that risk.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Well put, the Q1 retails for around $1,100, which is more than most entry level Dell notebooks. If one is looking for a light and portable Wi-Fi equipped device, the Palm TX retails for around $300. Its never been clear to me what market MS was targeting, as for 99% of users, it would be cheaper to buy a standard laptop or palm.
It seems that the real problem was how badly Microsoft marketing managed the release of Origami, giving too little information at a time, which causes people to guesstimate wildly.
Despite this obvious rant, the only thing I liked in TFA is how I misread the sentence:
For a split second, I read:
What do you do with a toilet computer? How (and where) do you put the pen away????"Nor have they ever released vaporware."
I think vaporware, by definition, is never released.
My name is Wootzor von Leetenhaxor
Sheesh... Some people didn't like the iPod when it lauched.. Some people don't like Palm's Treo.. Some people don't like the XBox, or the PSP, or the Gameboy.. Some people liked New Coke..
Can anybody name a product launch without "mixed" feedback?
The article has slim to no details as to what the problems were, and I suspect this is only on slashdot because of the dig at microsoft.
Does anybody have any real info on the device?
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I'm not sure I can agree here-- I spent $299 + tax on my Nokia 770 as opposed to about $1200 for the Q1; while the Q1 is running Windows and has a more powerful processor, it's also much bigger. I can carry my linux based 770 with me wherever I go very easily (fits in a shirt pocket) and have had no problem using it anywhere. For me at least, the extra $800 isn't worth it.
rob.
I'm vaguely considering getting some hardware like this (or perhaps one of those dinky if overpriced Fujitsu lifebooks) as a doodling/art tool.
I'm hoping someday touchscreens will be the standard, not the exception. Or, conversely, that drawing on a blank pad on your lap or on the table while looking at what you're drawing on separate screen will be considered some weird anomaly.
Any suggestions for hardware? I don't need a huge "canvas" but Palm is a little too small (often with flakey digitizers as well)
I'd love to see Apple get on this.
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
The advantage is in being able to draw diagrams in the midst of your notes.
Incidentally, I second the O.P. -- the handwriting recognition in Windows Tablet PC Edition is really great. I tried it on a full-size Tablet PC, of course, but it should be exactly the same for an Origami device
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz