Will the new Microsoft mini PC take over from MP3 players and mobile phones?

The new mini PC from Microsoft, which currently has the concept name "origami", was shown off at a technology trade show in Germany at the beginning of March. The end-product name for the computer has not yet been finalized, as "origami" is only a nickname which has been used by engineers during its development. The new computer is planned to hit the shelves in April, and is expected to rival apple Mac’s IPod amongst other things.

The new computer is a hand held PC in the similar shape of Sony’s P2P games console. The hand held PC is however as powerful as a standard desktop PC, with a whopping 60 gig hard drive. It has an 18cm touch-screen, and is a mere 1.5cm thick and weighs in at around 1 Kg. Operating with a full version of windows XP, this little computer is intended to have all the media capabilities of a home PC: therefore this new gadget will be able to run your favorite media player for music, games; as well as movies.

The new hand held PC also has additional connection capabilities for keyboards, digital cameras, and mobile phones; leading to speculation about how long before the mini PC and Skype ( http://www.skype.com ) begin to rival mobile phones too. The big question here being; will the large and powerful phone companies like Sony Ericsson ( http://www.sonyericsson.com ) give Microsoft the free rein to enter their marketplace. With Microsoft being such a major conglomerate surely the big phone companies will do everything in their capability to keep their market Microsoft free.

With this new ultra high tech piece of machinery Microsoft are also set to make a serious challenge to the PC hardware market. This brilliant strategy by Microsoft allows them to hit three of the world’s biggest markets (PCs, mobile phones and MP3 players) in one fell swoop.

Can anyone stop Microsoft? The only company to be seen making any challenge to the Microsoft empire at the moment is search engine giant Google – will we become a world dominated by two global Über-companies in the future – we'll just have to wait and see.

Sony Ericsson
Mobile phones