The tiny tablet-like Ultra Mobile PC unveiled by Microsoft at CeBIT on Thursday is poised to create a new category of consumer devices, but could take several years to hit the mainstream. 

"It is important to separate the point products [released this week] from the compelling examples of where this is going to go," Leslie Fiering, a research vice president with Gartner covering mobile computing, told vnunet.com. "If it is going to succeed, it's going to take at least two to three years." 

Speculation about the product started last week when Microsoft released a teaser campaign about a forthcoming product dubbed Origami.

The name refers to a software application running on top of Windows XP that lets users navigate a small portable device with a fairly large screen. The hardware itself is referred to as an Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC).

The devices and software were officially unveiled on Thursday at the CeBIT tradeshow in Germany, and the first devices are scheduled to arrive later this year.

They will feature a 7in screen and a 30GB-60GB hard drive for storage, and are powered by an Intel Celeron M, Pentium M or VIA C-7 processor. Battery life is estimated to be around 2.5 hours.

Intel and Microsoft have been showing off UMPC devices over the past 12 months. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates first showed a mock-up of the device at WinHEC in May 2005.

Intel chief executive Paul Otellini first presented it at Intel Developer Forum in August 2005 and gave a first public demonstration at the Consumer Electronics Show last January.

"This is a category of devices between cellphones and the PC," Erik Reid, director of product marketing for Intel's Mobile Platforms Group, told vnunet.com during an interview at the Intel Developer Forum earlier this week. 

"We expect people to use these devices for a range of activities, such as gaming, internet surfing or watching DVDs and movies. We are taking many of the functions that you use your PC for today, but are putting it in a smaller, lighter form factor.

"And we put it in a device that combines long battery life with very good performance and the ability to tap into the PC ecosystem that is built around the x86 architecture."