CARROLLTON, TX (BOC) – Experts predict an alarming rise in gadget addiction across the country as prices fall for the potent, highly habit-forming Samsung Q1 Ultra Mobile PC. And the consequences, they warn, could be dire.

“For the recovering gadget addict, the lure of the Samsung Q1 is almost irresistible,” says Dr. Julian Groat, addiction specialist at the McCarver Institute for Technological Dependency. “Just look at the specs: a 40GB hard drive, 512 MB DDR2 SODIMM memory, and a 7”, 800×480 touchscreen, all running on Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005. The virtual keyboard is pretty dazzling, too. And it weighs less than two pounds - so much smaller and more portable than a laptop.

“We’ve seen lives destroyed by gadget addiction,” Groat continued. “but we’ve never seen anything this concentrated before. It’s terrifying.”

While the Q1 - also known by the street name “Origami” – has been available for months now, it was previously priced too high for the typical addict to afford. But as cheap, powerful Q1s flood the streets, their tempting cocktail of performance and convenience is suddenly within reach of thousands of new users.

“It’s like crack for circuitheads,” says Shannon Gibson of Unplugged and Clean, a nonprofit Seattle-area recovery center. “The Q1 was bad enough when it cost $1200, but selling it for $749.99? You might as well walk into an NA meeting and start handing out loaded crack pipes. And let everybody borrow your lighter.”

One chronic Q1 abuser, who spoke under condition of anonymity, said the Ultra-Mobile PC was responsible for his recent gadget-addiction relapse. “Just when I’d convinced my wife to come back home, just when I was finally able to return to my nationally-syndicated radio show, Woot.com offered the Q1 for 750 bucks,” he says. “I sat there reading the specs, telling myself I would be fine, I was just looking. Well, by the time I got down to the integrated 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g wireless and Bluetooth 2.0 capabilities, I was reaching for my credit card. There goes the mortgage payment. The next morning, she was gone again. And I didn’t even care, I was so high on the Q1.

“Oh, yeah, and some Oxycontin I found at the back of my medicine cabinet,” he added, chuckling. “Good old Oxy.”

The best hope for averting a national epidemic of Q1 addiction, according to Gibson, is that the supply of Q1s will run low and force prices up once again.

“The sooner these ruthless pushers have to start charging more for the Q1, the safer gadget addicts will be,” she says. “I just hope to God that Woot.com doesn’t have thousands and thousands of these things laying around. What are they thinking, selling them so cheaply? Those people must be on something.”

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