Microsoft’s superhyped “Origami” hand-held computers go on sale this month as Ultra-Mobile PCs for about $1,000.

Microsoft and the PC industry want the devices – Origami was a code name – to become as handy as cell phones, as common as laptops and as cool as iPods, but analysts say the price has to come down first.

Otto Berkes led development of the project’s concept, software and design guidelines that computer makers are using to build the devices. He did so after helping develop Xbox, and hopes that Origamis will open avenues for the PC to evolve in new directions.

“This is much more of an object of desire, if you will,” Berkes said, trying one out at a Starbucks in Seattle. “Similar to picking up a cell phone, it’s not just the utility of the product but the design – what that design says about you – particularly since you’ll use it in a setting that’s much more social, like this one.”