OQO, who thought of the Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) category before Microsoft, Intel and Samsung attempted to define it (remember the Origami Project), launched new versions today of the “world’s smallest fully functional Windows Vista PC.”

OQO gave a preview of the upgrade to its model 02 at a San Francisco warehouse party last week, where its new CEO was also unveiled.

Dennis Moore joins from SAP where he was head of its Emerging Solutions division, focusing on information workers and mobility.

He told me he would be shifting OQO’s focus more towards the enterprise – consumers are its main market at present.

Jory Bell, who co-founded OQO in 2000 after leaving Apple Product Design, said Apple renegades had been joined by former HP, Palm, Dell and Sony workers, boosting engineering, sales and marketing teams.

He said his emphasis was on making the 02 thinner and, although it uses a VIA processor, he was open to using other low-powered processors in the future such as Intel’s Silverthorne chip.

The UMPC has yet to become a mass-market product, with even its backers saying it needs to be priced below $500 and promise all-day battery life to achieve that objective.

OQO’s O2 has been praised for its design and solid construction but criticised for its high price and slow graphics performance – it does not run Vista’s 3-D “Aero” interface.

OQO announced an entry-level version would now cost $1,299 rather than $1,499 and more storage options would be available, including a 120Gb hard drive and a 32Gb solid-state flash one.

The changes are not likely to increase OQO’s fanbase by much, but it remains the coolest iteration of a category yet to find a significant audience.

September 10th, 2007 in Mobile | Permalink