CNet: Multi-Touch The Tipping Point for 2008

CNet has pretty good write up on the Asus Eee, Ultra-Mobile PC’s, and how multi-touch might just become the feature that pushes Tablet PC’s into the consumer space:

The iPhone changed the way we viewed touch technology. More than just a method of selecting applications, Apple leveraged on the fact that we have more than one finger and invented a new way to control our devices, hence creating the multi-touch interface. While the rumours of an upcoming Mac tablet haven’t come true yet, the MacBook Air does have a multitouch trackpad, and we expect multi-touch to take off in the next few years.

Tablet PCs, despite their great promise, never did become popular with the mass consumer who probably didn’t feel that writing on the screen was worth the extra premium. Add to the fact that value manufacturers like Dell are entering the tablet PC market, and multi-touch technology may be the tipping point for this laptop category.