Willcom MID powered by Intel Atom (Silverthorne)

The mysterious Willcom MID prototype that was fused to a rotating base and kept under glass at CES 2008 may be on track to show itself off this summer.

Akihabara News is reporting that the Japanese PHS operator is "working closely" with both Microsoft and Intel to push "a new UMPC" (which I assume is really the MID) out the door as early as July. Although Willcom is remaining largely tight-lipped about the upcoming device, it did reveal that both Intel Atom (the new name of Silverthorne) and Windows Vista would be involved with the roll-out. Neither detail is unexpected, I suppose, but official confirmation is always nice.

By the way, am I the only one who thought Silverthorne was part of Menlow (now called Centrino Atom)? I've been talking about Menlow-based MIDs running on Silverthorne chips around here for months, so yesterday's news about the name changes has me debating a mass edit.