SlashGear Japan
The guys over at Textura Design got to spend some time with Mark Parker, Chief Evangelist from Intel’s Mobility Group. He just happened to be showing off the new IUMPC 2008 that we showed you yesterday. It turns out, this platform may be exactly what Apple has been waiting for to get into the UMPC market.
He showed the UMPC prototype off running Windows XP and described it as a fully-functional PC. The screen is a touchscreen that can be used with or without a stylus which will make it easy to just whip out and use. You’ll see integrated Wi-Fi and eventually WiMAX. When it makes it’s debut he said to expect 4-6 hours of battery life.
He then mentioned that it is entirely possible for it to run Mac OS X on the machine. It’s funny, when they asked him if OS X could run on it he started to say ‘absolutely,’ but then stopped and then agreed with them that it might be possible. Maybe he knows something that we don’t?
I’m sure that Apple has been closely watching what Intel is bringing to the UMPC world. People have been discussing the possibility of a UMPC from Apple for some time now. I think this is what Apple has been waiting for.
Blogging Beijing: Intel UMPC Prototype [via textura]
7 Responses to “Could this be the Apple UMPC we’ve been waiting for?”
Nikooooo April 19, 2007
Well… that’s a little bit far stretched don’t you think?
NeutralFirst off, there’s only one rumor site which describe some kind of an Apple project that uses small touchscreen device on the cheap (kind of UMPC; http://www.macosrumors.com/). But these guys talk about the iTablet since years!
Second… well you can already run OSX on any PC! It is not really legal, but well… you can. So why couldn’t you do it on such a mini-PC?????
;-)
SlaX April 19, 2007
Wow! I want that booting a full Mac OS X as the ultimate wireless “computerless” presentation remote!!!
1. Make the Keynote or PowerPoint presentation on Mac or PC-Windows.
2. Save it to the UMMac.
3. Carry the UMMac with you and use as a remote for wileless presentations. No other computer involved.
Huge sales on the corporate, education and domestic markets. And huge halo effect for Apple Mac!
NeutralNikooooo April 20, 2007
Slax yes and no. To date positioning these devices for “education” is near impossible, because of the costs! I doubt any of the students would pay more than 1000$ for something they cannot useefficiently (I would not and I am in the education system).
Furthermore we still miss one program with Mac versus Tablets… OneNote is a good software (amazingly knowing who developed it… hum).
But yes… waiting since years for the mac tablet ultra-portable :)
Neutralcej38 April 20, 2007
Apple UMPC…maybe you have heard of the iPhone? Will supposedly run OS X.
NeutralSlaX April 20, 2007
I also meant for teachers! Most teachers at our University use Keynote or PowerPoint presentations. They must carry all the time bulky laptops from their offices and homes to classrooms, scientific meetings, etc just to give presentations. And yes, all that functionality on the iPhone would be even better. If Apple finally allows it, of course.
NeutralWillie Nelson April 23, 2007
Cool. Looks like it only takes about a week and a half to boot up too.
NeutralChris April 23, 2007
Yea, I’m really hoping that since it’s the 2008 model that they’ll figure out a way to speed up the boot times. I can’t believe it took so long that the guy actually thought it died.
+1