Today at CeBIT, Microsoft, Intel and Samsung announced their commitment to developing a product category called Ultra-Mobile PC, UMPC for short. In truth, this category has existed for some time but not with any real focus by Microsoft or Intel. So, what exactly was announced you may ask? First of all, Samsung announced their entry into this market with a new device that weighs about 2 pounds, has a touch screen, and runs the full Windows XP operating system, Tablet PC Edition to be exact. Of course XP has been out for quite some time, so did Microsoft actually announce something new? Why yes, we did. We announced the Microsoft Touch Pack which is a new set of software built exclusively for UMPCs. That means only OEMs who ship UMPCs can preinstall the Touch Pack.
The Touch Pack is made up of five main applications/features. The first is Program Launcher. It is the launching point for applications on UMPC devices and what you see in many of the marketing materials. At its simplest form, Program Launcher basically gives the user a way to easily categorize their applications to make them easier to find and easier to open on a small form factor pc. It’s also totally cool looking!
Another part of the Touch Pack is Touch Improvements. This is just a little utility that a user can run that makes Windows more useable on a small, touch enabled computer. It makes about 10 setting changes to Windows such as widening the scroll bars, enlarging the minimize and maximize buttons, shows folders in thumbnail view, etc. These are all things Windows already supports but makes it easy for a user to just magically apply them all without having to go all over the OS to set them.
Next is a new skin for Windows Media Player called Brilliant Black. In order to make the media playback experience a breeze on the UMPCs we built a skin that fills the entire screen on the devices with large buttons to navigate the media controls such as play, stop, volume, etc.
Another product included in the Touch Pack is called DialKeys. This is built by a company called Fortune Fountain Ltd. and it is a really cool way to do text input with your thumbs. Since most UMPCs don’t have keyboards but do have a touch screen we wanted to provide the user an easy way to enter URLs, e-mail address, answer IMs, etc.
DialKeys basically takes a standard QWERTY keyboard layout and splits it in two halves. It’s a little hard to describe the layout but there are lots of screen shots of DialKeys to show what it looks like. The basic idea is that you hold the device in two hands and use your thumbs on the screen to type in text. It takes a little getting used to, but people are always amazed once they use it a day or two how good they get at typing with it.
The final product in the Touch Pack is Sudoku, a completely addictive game that is huge in Europe right now and gaining popularity in the U.S. as well. Sudoku is a logic game where you have to get the numbers 1-9 to show up in each row, column and box on the board. There are a bunch of Sudoku sites on the Internet if you want to learn how to play. Our version is of course optimized for touch and the pen.
Well, that’s it for the Touch Pack in this version. We will hear from press and analysts soon, but who we really want to hear from is you—folks who have or plan to buy a UMPC. Tell us what you like and don't like about the device. We'll be listening over the coming months as we plan more cool software for the next generation of UMPCs.