Friday, April 22, 2005
What a week!
First was the news on a "possible" upcoming Thinkpad Tablet PC, then a little bit of news on a new Motion Tablet PC and accessories, then Toshiba hits us with the new Tecra M4 Tablet PC - a powerhouse of a Tablet. A Table PC enthusiast couldn't ask for much more than that.
Overall, its' been a good quarter for Tablet PC announcements: Toshiba now has an R10 / R15, and the Tecra M4. No news on the future of the M200, though. HP released the TC4200 to compliment their TC1100. And now the IBM Thinkpad. Its' just going to get better.
What does all of this mean? The OEM's are gearing up for the back to school market. That's good news because they recognize this critical time frame for tablet sales and they appear to be rolling out units to appeal to broad interests and uses. Now comes the important part - get them into peoples hands, get them in to stores. Market the heck out of them. When I walk into Best Buy or Circuit City, I should expect to see the M4, the R15, the TC4200, the TC1100, the T4000, the ST5010, all alongside the other laptop offerings.
Here is a bit of speculation on my part: if the back to school response flops this year, then the OEMs are going to look back and question the viability of putting more money into this space. The software developers are going to question if the tablet market has peaked.
From a hardware perspective, there is no reason for it to flop. From a software perspective, there is enough there to make anyone see some of the benefits and fun from owning a Tablet PC.
Now - go market this thing and lets' really sell some Tablet PCs!
Overall, its' been a good quarter for Tablet PC announcements: Toshiba now has an R10 / R15, and the Tecra M4. No news on the future of the M200, though. HP released the TC4200 to compliment their TC1100. And now the IBM Thinkpad. Its' just going to get better.
What does all of this mean? The OEM's are gearing up for the back to school market. That's good news because they recognize this critical time frame for tablet sales and they appear to be rolling out units to appeal to broad interests and uses. Now comes the important part - get them into peoples hands, get them in to stores. Market the heck out of them. When I walk into Best Buy or Circuit City, I should expect to see the M4, the R15, the TC4200, the TC1100, the T4000, the ST5010, all alongside the other laptop offerings.
Here is a bit of speculation on my part: if the back to school response flops this year, then the OEMs are going to look back and question the viability of putting more money into this space. The software developers are going to question if the tablet market has peaked.
From a hardware perspective, there is no reason for it to flop. From a software perspective, there is enough there to make anyone see some of the benefits and fun from owning a Tablet PC.
Now - go market this thing and lets' really sell some Tablet PCs!
