| Backbone TV |
NEW Geoweb video
|
|
|
| Do you need a tablet PC? |
March 5, 2002 |
By Peter Wolchak
YOU’VE HEARD ABOUT TABLET PCS AND ARE INTRIGUED BY THE PROMISE OF IMPROVED ON-THE-GO BUSINESS FUNCTIONALITY.
You want to learn more—but hold tight, because you’re in for a bumpy ride.
A veritable boxing match is playing out over tablet PCs, with heavyweights Microsoft and Compaq warming up in one
corner and IBM already punching away in the other.
In his keynote speech at the fall Comdex 2001 trade show, Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates showed off tablet prototypes that use a Microsoft operating system called Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. “Next year, a lot of people in the audience will be taking notes with tablet PCs,” he said.
At the same show, Compaq also promoted its Tablet PC, slated for release in the second half of 2002 and predicted to be about the size of a pad of paper and less than three pounds in
weight. Hooked up to a keyboard and mouse, the unit will serve as a traditional notebook PC. But freed of these deskbound accessories, the clipboard-style device can be used to record on-the-go handwritten notes and diagrams. These can then be saved as graphics files or the handwriting can be translated to text. The units will also incorporate speechrecognition.
“We’re providing a mobile [design] for the general business user, something that is small and light enough to carry everywhere you go during a
business day,”Ted Clark, vice-president of Tablet PC at Compaq, told Backbone. “You use this like you would a pad and paper, but with the benefit
of having your full PC with you.”
Compaq expects these devices will
someday see widespread corporate use.
“What we at Compaq do especially well is develop broad-based platforms based on standard PC technology and deliver them to business consumers.We may tailor tablets to specific [markets] as required but the first priority is
the general business user,” Clark said.
Over at IBM, they couldn’t disagree more. “We don’t see any general-purpose, horizontal play in this market in the near future,” said Leo Suarez, IBM vice-president of worldwide product marketing for personal computing devices. He defined near future as 12 to 18 months.
“We are going to invest our money in projects where we see a large, mainstream opportunity—something of which you can sell millions of units.We don’t see that type of solution here.”
And what is his opinion of the Microsoft/Compaq initiative?
“It’s interesting, but I’m not losing any sleep over it.”
Compaq’s Clark is equally dismissive of his competition. “IBM would
probably still tell you there is no market for handhelds.
Our view is to innovate and to use that innovation to develop real
business tools that people want to buy.”
Circle of opinion
Looking around, though, tablet bashers are more common than boosters. Sony Electronics announced in January it is phasing out its Vaio Slimtop Pen Tablet, saying the only interest came
from a niche market of customers.
Ken Dulaney, vice-president of mobile computing at Gartner in San Jose, Calif., also predicts failure for clipboardstyle tablet PCs. “If Microsoft tries to [market this] as a
consumer tablet or thinks all knowledge workers will use a tablet instead of a notebook or desktop, then this will fail.”
Other configurations may be more successful, though.
Dulaney said a portable computer with an integrated touchscreen —essentially a souped-up notebook—may see market
success. Also viable may be a flat-panel monitor with some onboard
computing power that plugs into a base station loaded with peripherals such as network cards and a CD-ROM drive.
“The last two markets have the potential to be successful because they are just extensions of existing mass markets.”
The current slow economy is another hurdle for tablet PCs, according to Warren Chaisatien, a hardware analyst at IDC Canada.
With corporate technology budgets already squeezed, businesses are less interested in buying into experimental devices.“If I were to bet between handhelds or tablet PCs, I would put my money on handhelds, because the market has already accepted them.”
But Compaq’s Clark said technology improvements make tablets more attractive now than ever before. “There was a time when tablets weighed seven or eight pounds, and you're not going to carry that around. Now we're talking about the power of a full PC in a sub-three pound package, and that's a huge difference.”
|
|
|
| Green Innovation |
|
|
| Top 300 Issue |
 
|
| Gadget of the Week (Canadian) |
|
Pick the best 3G for you
RIM Blackberry Bold
Choosing the right smartphone is an important decision, and here’s the good news: while both the new iPhone and the Bold are excellent, the feel is entirely different, making it easy to choose.
more>>
|
| Gadget of the Week (Japanese) |
Sounds of Japan
Why record just the visual when you can capture the sounds as well.
more>> |
| Backblog RSS feed |
Click to subscribe  |
|
sponsored by 
