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All through the last month we have been hearing about the fact that the release of many UMPCs have been either delayed or threatened due to a lack of 3 and 6 cell batteries (yes MSi, we mean you..but not JUST you). This is ostensibly due to a recent fire in one of the few companies that produce such power sources.

Just as that debacle appears to finally be clearing up (or so the vendor’s PR flaks would have us believe), another supply chain snafu is looming on the horizon for the makers of UMPCs and other small PCs. Digitimes is reporting that most Asian makers of flat panel displays are counting on the UMPC boom’s need for 8.9 and 10 inch panels to boost their Q3/Q4 bottom lines, since digital photo frames are not exactly the must-have gadget they were expected to be (who’d have thought it?). However, these display companies are seeing their orders for such LCD dropping off suddenly. Why? It seems that vendors are anticipating a shortage of Atom processors, the new gold standard in miniature CPUs from Intel. Their production of Atom based UMPCs will obviously be limited by any lack of the CPU, hence they don’t need as many 8.9 and 10 inch panels, ipso facto the LCD makers are hosed.

According to Digitimes,

Asustek Computer president Jerry Shen last month said the battery shortage would ease in July, but the shortages of the Atom processors could persist through September.

September? This could put a bad crimp in the natural “back to school sale” market for UMPCs, especially as part of the reason for the sudden shortage of Atom chips is because even the mainstream buyers of UMPCs seem to be fairly tech savvy, and are showing a strong preference for Atom driven devices (heavily guided by reviews and the tech press). If any rumored Atom shortage continues into September, and LCD makers will need time to fill newly reactivated orders once the Atoms are in stock, we could also see a holiday-shopping shortage of UMPCs. While this might be good news for some vendors, as a shortage will help them justify higher prices (the Wii-Effect) it is bad news for consumers and the UMPC market in general.

Perhaps this is the break that VIA and AMD have been looking for to gain more prominence in mobile CPUs. Stay tuned.

Zealot (469 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

By day a department manager and writer for a major network device vendor...by night Zealot stalks the mean magnetic streets, striking fear into the hearts of bandwidth abusers and theme park mascots. Zealot has been involved with mobile devices for more than a decade now, starting off with dumb phones, moving to PDAs and then to smartphones, notebooks and netbooks with the odd PMP thrown in. Most of his mobile time currently is spent on a Treo Pro, Zune HD, Thinkpad T61, Gigabyte M912M or a Hackintoshed Compaq Mini 704. He proudly groks the Geek community and considers himself a Neo Maxi Zune Dweebie (thanks Will Wheaton!).