Willcom MID prototype under glass

A news fact sheet handed out at Intel's press booth includes a list of MIDs and UMPCs that were supposed to be on display in its technology showcase. I say "supposed to" because I don't think all of the promised devices were there. I visited the both on three separate days and every time I went back, I saw a new MID that wasn't there the last time.

Today, the final day of CES 2008, was no different. Rotating on a base inside the showcase was the never-before-seen Willcom MID.

What's the Willcom MID?

No one seems to know. I knew of its existence because of the fact sheet, which contains the line: "Intel has Menlow-based MIDs and UMPCs from Aigo, Asus, BenQ, CLarion, Compal, Digifriends, EB, Gigabyte, Lenovo, LG-E, LiteOn, Quanta, Toshiba, USI, and Willcom."

Not even the Intel spokespeople manning the booth knew anything about the unusually long device. The woman I spoke to said it's only a prototype and that she didn't have any details about it.

In fact, she said it was fused to the base! I said that I assumed the unit opened up to reveal a hardware keyboard and display, but she had no idea because she'd never seen it open. Considering it was stuck to the base, it may not have even been able to open.

So all I got was some pictures of a prototype under glass. Better than nothing, I guess.