A lot of you outside of the US may have missed this, but the OQO model 02 has won the Good Design Award 2007 sponsored by the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization. It's not listed on OQO's site because of a trademark issue with the European phone service company O2, but I've got a copy of the press release to share with you. What's interesting about this design award is that the Japanese trade group is giving a design award to an American computer company. I think a lot of you would laugh if Dell received a good design award, but I think it's really compelling to see American industrial designers achieving international recognition. Congratulations OQO on a job well done.

Visitor

Wednesday, 21 November 2007

Reading the release I do not agree with the logic of OQO of not using the clamshell form factor. I would have greatly prefered that shape as the device would still be pocket size but the longer size provides a good keyboard unlike the thumb version they use. I am impressed in their innovation to make a full PC that small but I think the size should have been clamshell not a thumb device. The clamshells of the 90's sold in the millions their first year and the pen form factors of the UMPC's best case estimates are 700k. I do not see the logic of not going clamshell.