Microsoft leaks Origami details

Microsoft updated the Web site for its secretive Origami Project on Thursday, offering a more elaborate tease, but also confirming key details about the Windows-based mini tablet.

"I am everywhere you are, but never in the way," reads the cryptic text of the site, with pictures showing a mountain peak and a subway. "Who am I?... Find out 3.9.06 [9 March]".

However, right-clicking outside the flash animation of the main Web page and viewing the source code provides this: "Origami Project: the Mobile PC running Windows XP".

Although Microsoft continues to play somewhat coy, sources have provided a pretty clear picture of the mini-tablet devices. They will carry Microsoft's software, but be made by several other companies, sources have said. The will also be larger than a typical handheld computer, with at least some of the devices using a roughly 178mm (7-inch) screen.

Microsoft refused to go into details, but offered up a statement saying, "As promised on the OrigamiProject.com website, we are offering more details today about Origami, including that it is a new category of mobile PCs that will run Windows XP. We're excited to share more information with you on 9 March."

Opening up Origami
Origami devices are expected to do most of the tasks that a low-end PC is capable of -- things like playing music and movies, editing documents, viewing email and surfing the Internet. Many models are expected to include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless capabilities, though some may also have pricier add-ons, such as GPS navigation tools or cellular modems.

Sources have said they expect Microsoft to run through the Origami effort at CeBit trade show, which takes place 9 to 15 March in Hannover, Germany.

Microsoft has managed to conjure nearly unprecedented buzz for the product, although it has talked in the past about such a device. Chairman Bill Gates displayed a prototype concept at a hardware conference last spring, outlining his ambitions for a 450g tablet with all-day battery life and a cost of $800 (£458).

"There's a lot we need to do in the software to make this something that's very easy to work with, and probably having a touch screen," Gates said in the April speech. "We want to get down below 900g, as close to 450g as we can, get an all-day battery life in this thing. We do believe this is achievable."

Sources say the company has actually been pushing to create a device that can sell for $500 (£286), but the company is unlikely to reach that lofty goal with the initial generation of devices.

Chipmaker Intel is also touting a similar idea, something it calls the Ultra Mobile PC, or UMPC. Intel has a teaser site of its own. The Web site encourages people to check back on 7 March, which is also the first day of the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.

"How do you turn a big idea into something small?" the site asks. "Stay Tuned...Ultra-Mobile PC."

Origami would not be the first mini-tablet PC to run Windows. At January's Consumer Electronics Show, start-up Dualcor Technologies showed the $1,500 (£858) cPC, which had a 127mm (5-inch) screen and the ability to act as both mobile phone and tablet PC. Tablet PC specialist Motion Computing also has its LS800, an 203mm (8-inch), 900g tablet that starts at $1,699 (£971). Others have tried to make mini-laptops, notably OQO.