Wired Campus News noted earlier this week that HP has joined Intel, OLPC, and Asus with their own ultra mobile PC (UMPC), the HP Mini Note PC. There are a variety of configurations, including Windows Vista or SUSE Linux flavors with either a flash-based or more traditional mechanical hard drive. The cheapest model comes in at $499 with SUSE Linux and a 4GB SDHC.

I took a brief look, and it appears that the HP Mini Note is only available on the government and small and medium business purchase sections of the HP website. The obvious intention is that this will be a machine for classroom use or within industry. Is HP missing out on the individual consumer market that is growing because of the Eee PC? Why is it that education is seen as the potential market for inexpensive UMPC's and not individual consumers?