Who’s
The Market For PC Tablets?
Microsoft
has started the ball rolling (again) for PC Tablets, with the
announcement of a number of vendors who plan to offer various
hardware designs running Windows with their tablet extensions for
Windows and Office.
We’ve
tried the software – and several versions of the hardware –
courtesy of vendors who were preparing their versions of hardware
and software for the announcement.
The
software is definitely spiffier than the last round of tablets –
easier to use and more aware of the difference between keyboarding
and inking.
The
hardware, on the other hand, reminds me of everything I didn’t
like the last time around.
-
Tablets
are a tradeoff between screen size, weight, and battery power
(like laptops). But
while laptops are only intended for use on some flat surface,
some folks think they’re going to walk around and use a
tablet held in their hand or propped on their arm.
Forget it. Unless
you’re a lot stronger than me (or a glutton for punishment),
you’re not going to be doing much of that.
We proved ten years ago that human beings can’t hold
a device in their hand and use it comfortably if it weighs
more than a pound – these devices are in the 3-4 pound
class. On the other hand, they’re great for “corridor warriors
– corporate types who spend most of the day out of their
office but in the building, going from meeting to meeting.
-
Tablets
are either designed to be great as tablets (for inking), with
no keyboard (or an optional or inferior keyboard) or designed
to be great for use with a keyboard (in which case they’re
generally heavier and a little clumsy).
Maybe we need to decide what we want to buy.
The problem is that at these price points (typically
$1,600 to $3,000), manufacturers figured they had to offer a
combination of laptop and tablet function.
Maybe
the answer is that there isn’t much of a market at these prices
and this weight point.
There
could be some other answers.
A group of industry veterans from eMachines have formed a
new company, StepUp Computing, and plan to offer a low-cost
pen-based tablet computer for less than $1,000.
It will run a choice of Windows 2000, Windows XP, and the
Lindows version of Linux. It
will be priced from $799, depending on operating system.
The first version, the DocuNote, weighs 2.5 pounds and is
10x8x1” and includes a built-in color digital camera and
microphone for video conferencing.
It’s based on a Transmeta processor and has 256Mb of
memory and a 20 GB hard drive.
What it lacks in glamour, it certainly makes up for in
price.
We
suspect there is a main market – as opposed to a niche market
– for tablets at the right price point.
I don’t know where that is but if pressed to guess, I’d
pick $500. That says
the Tablet PC offerings are way off in a niche, but the StepUp
product is a lot closer. We
might get there sooner than you think.
Meantime,
Michael Robertson of Lindows (the crossover Linux operating system
that can enable a few Windows programs) has had a few words to say
about tablet PC’s, too. We
though they were worth sharing.
Michael believes that
 |
To reach the
masses, tablets need to be substantially below $1,000.
Anything priced higher will simply be a novelty and
something you won't want to risk spilling coffee on.
|
|
Tablet
computers will not replace desktops or laptops.
|
|
Tablets
won't be used for any intensive computing work.
Instead, it will be used to go places where desktops or
expensive laptop can't, due to price or bulkiness.
|
|
Tablets
will supplement desktops and laptops, not replace them,
and only that if they are at a low, attractive price.
|
Robertson
thinks that handwriting recognition doesn’t work and that even
if it did people wouldn’t use it.
He obviously isn’t a Palm user – millions of them use
Graffiti. Newer forms
of handwriting recognition are nearly as accurate and don’t
require even the modest modifications Graffiti imposes.
But
he’s pretty sure hardware vendors are going to offer a tablet
Lindows machine very soon, near the magical $500 price.
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