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So Google trends is now live– with it you can compare all sorts of things, like how the UMPC (remember Origami?) could turn out to be just a flash in the pan as the reviews of the first devices (just the Samsung for now) are rolling in– and almost all of them are dismal.
This screen grab shows the searches for Nokia 770 vs the UMPC. Can you say flash in the pan?
This also shows that the 770 was getting some good press during the end of the year. I hope that the Internet Tablet 2006 OS will generate some more buzz and get the 770 back out and into people’s hands where it belongs. I hope this device won’t become the next Agenda.
The inital peak of the UMPC was smaller than that of the 770– but I will give you that that it has settled to about the same point as the 770, where the 770 dropped off a bit more, but has come back since the end of the year to it’s current level.
My point wasn’t _so_ much about Google Trends proving anything, but more about how the UMPC has really turned off reviewers so far– I haven’t posted anything about them since the inital Origami Project broke, and at that point, with a $500 price point they looked cool. At $1000 they are quite sad.
Oh come on. It’s trivial to see that in the origami search the plateau is because of people searching for folding paper, and the peak is because of Microsoft “product” announcement.
I’m not disagreeing with your assessment on origami or on the truck loads of cash that were probably used on origami launch. I just wanted point out that your hypothesis on origami/UMPC being “a flash in the pan” (while maybe correct) is not supported by Google Trends — the peaks look very much like the “Nokia 770” did in the beginning, just a lot bigger.
A few things:
1. I did try nokia 770 & origami – but you get all the hits from people looking how to fold paper- not so good.
2. Compare how much $$$ MS and other have spend promoting UMPC against what Nokia has spent (Anything, save giving a few away?) and then see how much traffic the 770 is getting – a ton.
3. The UPMC is bullocks, as they say across the pond. :)
I’ll wait till the 3rd UMPC hardware platform is released in a few years– it will be called something like “Ultra Professional Mobile Experience, Second Edition SP4.”
That comparison doesn’t really give credit to Microsoft. If you really wanted to compare the media “values”, you’d compare:
umpc, maemo
nokia770, origami
Looks a lot different, eh? Flash in the pan or not, MS knows their PR…