Well, it looks like Microsoft’s Origami Project has finally been unveiled! It’s a little earlier than expected, but the clamor looked like it was starting to peak, so they took the covers off to reveal it at CeBit, a technology conference being held this week. The origami project has been the focus of a great deal of speculation recently, with the rumor mill saying it was going to be everything from a next generation media device to a product aimed at women [ Microsoft’s Origami… “for women?” ] but the truth has finally come out!

Origami looks to be a next-generation ultra-mobile PC, running some version of Microsoft Windows Tablet. It’s essentially a minitablet, as many people thought it would be, and as the leaked promo video shows, a multifunction device that appears to have wireless and bluetooth capability built in along with the ability to store and control media on a network, all accessable through an approximately 7-inch touch-sensitive screen. Sound good so far? Well, it does, don’t get me wrong-we could very well be entering a time when portable computers are more like those little hand-held slabs from Star Trek than traditional laptops, but the Origami looks like it has a ways to go before it can really claim to revolutionize anything. Between that and the ambiguous price point at the moment, it looks like a mini tablet PC, and the market for tablet PCs has been pretty abysmal as of late. That also being said, this could be the savior of the tablet PC market-smaller, lighter, and more portable and universal, the Origami could very well bring those dreams to doctors and lawyers of always having access to all of their files and information on something small enough to hold in one hand to life.

Only time will tell to be sure, but in the meantime, there’s plenty of information up at Microsoft’s Ultra-Mobile PC website:

[ Microsoft :: Ultra-Mobile PC ]

There you can take a look at Origami-style PCs being designed and offered by Samsung and ASUS, and see them for yourself. Oh, and if you’re wondering whatever happened to the Origami project website, they’ve gone ahead and unveiled the rest of the presentations. Head over if you’re curious:

[ Origami Project :: hi ]

update: news of the origami has also meade it over to the New York Times, as seen in this link:

[ New York Times :: Now, a Laptop You Can Hold in Your Hand ]