It looks like the Gigabyte U60 ultra mobile PC is ready to roll and according to some reports, it could be heading towards Europe and America. This was certainly in their plans when I spoke to them at CeBIT in March and it looks even more certain now. Worrying, perhaps, for Medion as they’ve had a lot of delays on their version of this design and are only just starting to ship to customers.
Pocketables reports that the first batch of 500 UMPCs for the local market (Taiwan) will be made available next week and shortly afterwards there will be a global rollout. It appears that Gigabyte sells mainly through online distribution channels so the price comparison sites are likely to pick this up as soon as it happens. Pocketables also reports the news that they are teaming up with the local telco, Chunghwa Telecom, to provide a 3.5G bundle. Looking at the images provided by VIA I’d say that they are just bundling up a HSDPA USB dongle similar to the one I tested here. Its also not clear if Chunghwa are going to subsidise the U60 like carriers normally do with mobile phones. So far I’ve only seen one second-tier/virtual cellular provider doing this and so if it was being subsidised by Chunghwa, it would be the first example. To me, the acceptance of UMPCs by cellular carriers is a very very important step. At that point you can be sure that production capability is ramped up, 3rd party investment is secured and confidence in the future of UMPCs is there. It also means competition and subsidised prices for the end-user which is always good.
The new ultra mobile PC info is a one-liner: “The motherboard maker said it will launch another ultra mobile PC model in the second half of 2007.” Keep an eye out at Computex for prototypes or announcements on this one as it looks like they are working closely with VIA. (VIA Technical Forum will take place at Computex, Taipei on the 6th June. New device announcements are expected.)
Lastly, Gigabyte says that the ultra mobile PC market has a chance to reach 2 million units in 2007. Of course it does! There’s a chance someone might drop a cheque for 1 million through my letterbox today as a Fathers day gift! What the chance though? My estimate for 2007 was near 700,000 units and here’s my hyperlinked source! There are some more estimates here and here (not mine I hasten to add but at least Richard Brown of VIA has explained why he supports the 10% by 2010 prediction.) that reach up to the heady heights of 25 million units.
Hyperlink to News Source:DigiTimes
