Is it poor advertising or is the product to blame?

Once again, advertising is being blamed for poor product design.

According to Tech Dirt, Microsoft began the first quarter generating buzz for their new Ultra Mobile PC. Veiling their product behind the veil of “Microsoft Origami Project”, Microsoft successfully generated great “buzz,” that is until they revealed the product. Now, Microsoft is blaming poor marketing on the failure of the product.

Turns out, the product didn’t live up to the promised hype. It was more expensive that originally promised and sported fewer features. Sound familiar? (Think Q4 Sony Playstation 3 product launch)

Instead of stepping back and looking at the product, looking at it from a CONSUMERS point of view, Microsoft has decided to blame the marketing department.

Let’s see, it’s an ultra mini tablet PC whose claim to fame is that it runs Windows XP applications. Did someone create a Windows XP fan club and forget to tell me about it?

According to Carlo at Tech Dirt:

The only advantage he [the author of the article touting the UMPC as a great product with botched marketing] can cite over a PDA or smartphone is a larger screen and the ability to run Windows XP, which gets to the heart of the “problem” with the UMPC: does it offer features that many people really care about?

Between smartphones and laptops, the mobile computing market is fairly well covered, with niche devices like portable video players filling things out. Throw in other attractive UMPC features like a short, two- to three-hour battery life and a high price tag, and it’s clear that the problem isn’t marketing; it’s that the UMPC simply isn’t very attractive to a wide group of consumers.

What a concept; creating a product that appeals to the wants and needs of consumers. I forgot that this is Microsoft we’re talking about. However, for those of us who don’t have such deep pockets, we need to stay intensely focused upon providing products/services that solve problems for consumers.

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