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A computer, sans keyboard

Microsoft unfolds ultracompact PC running XP Microsoft unfolds Project Origami

HANOVER: After months of cryptic Web marketing and word-of-mouth hype over Project Origami, Microsoft on Thursday displayed the product: an ultracompact computer running Windows XP with a touchscreen and wireless connectivity.

It is everything a full computer or laptop is, minus the keyboard. It has a 17.8-cm, touch-sensitive screen that responds to a stylus or the tap of a finger. It is expected to retail for between $600 and $1,000.

Two models from different manufacturers are expected to be marketed soon, and Microsoft says they would be about 2.5 cm thick and weigh less than 1.1 kg — about the size of a large paperback. It will run on a full version of Windows XP, the same operating system used on larger tablet PCs. Newly developed software called Windows Touch Pack will handle touch-screen functions. Future editions will support Windows Vista, a version of Microsoft's flagship operating system that is due out in the second half of this year. "It really opens up new possibilities for PC use," Bill Mitchell, corporate vice-president of Microsoft's Mobile Platforms Division, said on Wednesday.

The device was unveiled on Thursday at CeBIT, the annual technology trade show here, during a speech by Intel executive Christian Morales. Intel makes the Celeron M and Pentium M microprocessors that run it.

Mr. Morales said Intel hopes to develop more chips for the device that will run faster and cooler. So far, three companies have built working models — Samsung, Asus and Chinese manufacturer Founder. The device will not be called Origami. The company is marketing it as a category it is calling the ultramobile PC, said Mika Krammer, a marketing director for Microsoft's Windows mobile unit.

Though Microsoft is not manufacturing the hardware, it took a guiding role from the start. "We've done more than just provide the software. We've built the reference designs to sort of get the category started," he said. "We had the first prototypes about nine months ago and started working with partners early on."

The Samsung and Asus devices are expected to be in stores by April, and the Founder device in June.

"A lot of the early engagement we have had has been with non-traditional PC vendors, although there is a lot of interest from traditional PC vendors as well," Mitchell said. "It ideally brings the best of what a Windows PC is and marries it to what the best of a very capable consumer electronic device is."

That, said David Bradshaw, an analyst with London-based Ovum, is key. "I really would hope that it would be something that works," he said, adding that he had not seen one of the models. "Something that is wirelessly connected. Hopefully it will have a wide range of wireless options so that you would be able to use Wi-Fi when available or a [wirelesss] carrier's network if you can afford to pay through the nose."

Origami, Mr. Mitchell said, sports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless access. At CeBIT, he said they were using their models by connecting their cell phones to it via Bluetooth.— AP

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