Samsung's ultramobile Q1 PC makes its presence felt

Samsung's ultramobile Q1 PC makes its presence felt

Samsung has introduced a new product in the market – an ultramobile PC called Q1. It is expected to be sold in the U.S in Best Buy stores as well as online, by 7 May, 2006. Although this device is expensive, a whopping 1,099USD, Samsung is confident that it'll hit the market with a big bang.

This is because the Q1 is a cross between a PDA and a laptop PC and this enables the user to enjoy the benefits of both devices. With these ultramobile PC's, there's no need for people to carry a PDA as well as a laptop. Moreover, these device's have a lot of enhanced features.

The Q1 is the result of the collaboration between Microsoft and Intel. Together, they created a software code named as 'Origami', that enables the Q1 to run. This PDA cum PC is only 7 inches long, and weighs 1.7 pounds. It uses the tablet version of Windows XP and can perform all the regular functions.

In fact, Microsoft has already modified it so it can run smoothly on the small touch screen monitor. The Q1 also includes the famous mind boggling game Sudoku. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth can be enabled with USB 2.0 ports. I has an impressive 900 MHz Intel Celeron-M ULV processor, 512MB of memory and a 1.8-inch, 40 GB hard drive. The life of the battery is about 3.5 hours after charging.

There is no doubt at all that this machine is superior to its predecessors in every way, but its price may be its major setback. People may not be willing to spend 1,0099 dollars on a new product. This machine will sell only in a fixed market segment, unless the price is reduced to somewhere between 499$ to 699$. Researchers are divided in their opinion about whether the Q1 would sell or not.

Some analysts feel the first buyers would be people who have specific needs like management students or medical workers, who may find out that their tablet PC's are too bulky and expensive.
However, certain researchers, like Richard Shim from IDC think that, "It's too expensive for a consumer device, but has too many multimedia features for a commercial device."

David Nichols, director of display marketing for Samsung's information technology division, said: "Since this is the first, we're really just trying to get user feedback."

This leaves us wondering how many people will be buying this machine and giving a good feedback.