Microsoft, Marketing and UMPCs: James Kendrick for InformationWeek
What's this? InformationWeek is talking about how Microsoft botched the marketing for UMPCs? Great...another MSM-type article of someone who probably doesn't even use a UMPC. Who wrote this thing?!? Oops....the byline says "James Kendrick"!
Ah, I knew it along and was just playin' ya. James provides his thoughts to InformationWeek's broad IT audience; many of which may not even have heard the term "UMPC" yet, so this is great news! Oh, and the article itself is a winner too. Give it a read to get "Mr. Kendrick's" thoughts on how the devices could be better marketed, can be more effective than other options out there and who should consider a UMPC. Great...now I have to call "Mr. Kendrick" going forward...sheesh!
Congratulations on a well-written piece in a mainstream computer publication. You rock!
Posted by: Tax Man | December 21, 2006 at 03:45 PM
James...fantastic article!!!
All in all it may not be so bad...after all, the marketing for tablets has been botched since the beginning...and I still own two!
Posted by: Dave | December 21, 2006 at 04:31 PM
Thanks, folks! I am convinced the viability of the platform itself (Tablet PC and now UMPC) is proof positive that they are still around and growing without a big marketing push. Otherwise they'd already be gone, at least Tablet PCs would be.
Posted by: jk | December 21, 2006 at 06:44 PM
Too many words for me to read them all at one time...
Skimmed to see how you made this point.
Access, Access, Access!!!!
That's got to be a main factor and in my area there is NONE!!
Was almost none for tablets and none for UMPC's.
Saw a Gateway, non working at BestBuy, when they first came out. Saw one at Office Depot 2 weeks ago. I said goody there really is a tablet computer.. I reached out to touch it and set off all kinds of alarms!!! Was surrounded by clerks looking for a thief.
I said hell of way to sell a computer and left..
I know BestBuy has said that they have had some UMPC's but not when I've been there. Is there really an UMPC???
I'm not paying $100-200.00 each for restocking fees to try out 2-3 different brands of tablets and then the same again for UMPC's.
Your reviews are great but don't help in the personal needs part of this decision. 30 minutes of hands on would go a long way!!
Besides you get to try all (many) of these units and still have trouble making up your minds. And change your minds.
Sales can never achieve max without hands on access to the masses. Some geeks will do almost anything, spend almost anything to have the latest and none of this matters to you. Me, I'm still using an old Toshiba that started life with Win95. If I buy it I own it for a while and want to buy the right thing.
Thanks for all you do!!
Posted by: Bill Rose | December 21, 2006 at 08:09 PM
I'm sure "Mr. Kendrick" won't mind if you just call him... "Sir"
Posted by: Robin Capper | December 22, 2006 at 12:31 AM
Mr. JK will do just fine. :)
Posted by: jk | December 22, 2006 at 10:44 AM