Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

Computer juggernaut Microsoft has made the news twice recently: Once for a project called “Origami” and once for MS Live.

MS Origami is the project name for Microsoft's Ultra-Mobile PC. Their teaser site is http://www.origamiproject.com/3/ but you can find more details about it here:http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/umpc/default.mspx. It's a new product being unveiled right now. It's a 5 — 7 inch touch screen computer with an onscreen keyboard. It's not getting a lot of good press. I'm going to be interested in seeing how it sells because it doesn't seem to serve a niche: it's too big for a PDA, so you're not going to get the business crowd carrying it around and it's too small for a tablet PC (plus no standard keyboard) so you're not going to get the mobile computer crowd… and yet, that seems to be the crowds it's aiming to serve.

I may be skeptical about MS Origami/Ultra-Mobile PC, but I am very hopeful about MS Live. MS Live is Microsoft's search engine. Still in Beta mode, it looks (as of now) to have the power and simplicity of Google with a few other features (like scrollable frames and a control that lets you choose how much information you get from each website on the search screen). At this point, I don't suspect it to outpace Google, because I think Google is fighting back with more and more services, but it could quite possibly unsettle them in the future. After all, my nose is to the ground and I hear discontented rumblings that the omnipotent Google is not loved by all. Admittedly, neither is Microsoft, but eventually people might be looking for someone to unseat the Google giant.

When my computer starts to run a little more slowly and a little more loudly than I'd prefer, I know it's time to get a new computer. As I look around at what's out there right now, I'm really drawn to the Tablet PC.

A Tablet PC is like a laptop, except you have a few more options with the screen: you can turn it around for presentations or you can fold it flat and write directly on the screen with a stylus. It has the functionality and portability of a laptop, but the swiveling screen gives it greater functionality.

This has all kinds of great business applications, from visiting clients to doing presentations. Because they're easier to carry and use than laptops, I've seen insurance appraisers using them as they walk around cars they're appraising for claims.

Check out the tablet PCs at www.dell.com and www.gateway.com or Google “Tablet PC” and see what you get. Sometimes I do that just for fun.

I hope my computer starts to run a little more loudly soon! Maybe I'll help it along.

I get a lot of people asking me for advice about what kind of business to start. On www.morebusiness.com we periodically review some of the top businesses based on trends or personality.

One piece of advice I give a lot of people is this: Find a product no one else has and bring it to market.

Think of the great products that have earned millions of dollars for people: Pet Rocks, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hula Hoops. These three spring to mind. Someone made them, someone brought them to market and made a lot of money. And it doesn't always happen in your neighborhood. In some cases, you have to go beyond your borders to find products that aren't in the market.

Find good leads on this kind of stuff at www.alibaba.com and www.fita.org. Don't get bogged down with red tape (which happens when you bring stuff in from other countries). If you believe in it and think you've got what it takes to make it big, get it to market!

There's good stuff out there ... not all of it is in the US. But maybe it needs to be. Thanks to the Internet, it's a smaller world out there. You may bring to market the next big fad!