Samsung: Initial feedback mixed on ultra mobile PC

Looks like Samsung is giving us some honest info on the realities of the hype that the Origami teaser campaign created vs what their customers are actually experiencing.

Feedback from customers who have bought Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s Q1 device suggests that a pre-launch teaser campaign by Microsoft Corp. might have backfired, a Samsung executive said Monday.

The Q1 went on sale in the U.S. in May and is based on Microsoft’s Origami platform. Microsoft collaborated with Intel Corp. to create Origami, which combines a tablet edition of Windows XP with a pen-based tablet computer similar in specification to a laptop computer.

“Feedback has been quite mixed,” said David Steel, vice president of marketing for Samsung’s digital media business, in a briefing with reporters at the company’s headquarters in Suwon, south of Seoul.

A positive or negative response is generally related to how much of the pre-launch Origami hype the person had been exposed to, Steel said.

Over a period of several weeks prior to the platform’s March launch at the Cebit trade show, Microsoft ran a teaser campaign in which it slowly disclosed Origami details. With few specific details released, expectations were quickly raised among IT professionals, bloggers and journalists about what Origami would be. At the same time a price tag of between US$500 and $1,000 for the devices became known.

Via ITWorld