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Friday, July 04, 2008

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Long Live the Tablet PC!

Some people seem to think that I was sounding the death gong for the tablet PC the other day. Let me point out that the first 6 words of the title were The Tablet PC Has Not Failed!

My strong and passionate conviction is that pen and touch interfaces are here to stay and that a wider suite of Natural Input technologies will be increasingly important in the future. Tablet PC is alive and well.

I also know that software that leverages the pen is critical and this is where we are lagging at the moment - but that is a problem that can be fixed. The Tablet PC as it exists today is full of untapped potential. that's great! That is much better than having a platform with no potential! All we need are some innovative applications. Or should I say some more innovative applications! Some of the applications that do exist today can change the way you work and make you much more effective and productive. I for one could not even contemplate having a pen challenged computer (aka a laptop) as my main mobile computing device.

Clearly Rob shares this view...

Don't break out the black suit, drums, and saxaphone just yet - Tablet isn't dead and it won't be dying any time soon.

Here here!

Tablet PC | Touch

7/4/2008 7:02 AM MST

Long Live the Tablet PC! Comments [5] | Digg This | del.icio.us | Citations

Friday, July 04, 2008 7:46:59 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

The tablet PC isn't dead and there is no way it will die so soon. A lot of people still rely on them for daily work. Even at stores like 7-Eleven they use tablet PC daily for ordering and keeping track of inventory. College students use it for doing their homework, projects, and all sorts of things. Designers use it too! The tablet PC is useful for all types of work, and that's what makes it a great mobile device.

Shan Gee

Friday, July 04, 2008 4:48:56 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

I can remember when the handheld calculator(not much smaller than a portable adding machine) came out and people said, "Ya gonna clip that thing to your belt..."

Then they came out with a laptop, and the same people asked why on earth you'd want to lug one of those things around just to print invoices...

The tablet pc is facing the same scenario

SAM

Saturday, July 05, 2008 1:04:23 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

i believe you but tablet technology works simply horribly in pc and mac. a new platform should arise and must replace all paper, text book for more natural writings and natural recordings. right now using a tablet pc kills alot of my brain cell : )

CSL

Sunday, July 06, 2008 8:59:13 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Sorry, but I completely disagree. I 100% agree that "pen and touch interfaces are here to stay and that a wider suite of Natural Input technologies will be increasingly important in the future." Absolutely no question. The problem is that the next sentence, "Tablet PC is alive and well," doesn't follow from that.

If Tablet PC was alive and well, would its progenitors have launched not one but two entirely new product formats to revitalize this space? [To wit: UMPC and MID, saying nothing of the netbook] What's best and truly original and empowering about the Tablet PC approach is now flourishing on completely different form factors, which are seeing user takeup and recognition like Tablet PC never had. And clinging to the Tablet PC mantra is just going to saddle those great pen and touch interface technologies with legacy baggage they don't need.

Paul Mackintosh

Monday, July 07, 2008 3:33:52 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Hi Paul,

I we'll have to disagree on that one.

I see the UMPC and MID devices as evolutions of tablet and touch. They are not, however, a direct replacement for the tablet PC. I don't think that any UMPC or MID could be said to occupy the same space as, for instance, the Toshiba M700 or a Motion M1700. The Toshiba is an all in one desktop replacement machine with tablet capability. The Motion is a very high end slate. By contrast UMPC and MID devices are companion devices.

As I said previously that tablet PCs is enjoying strong growth in the corporate space. By contrast UMPCs in the corporate space are pretty rare.

Regards,

Craig

Craig Pringle

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