Sunday, November 27, 2005
InformationWeek > Tablet PCs: Stuck In A Niche
Aaron Ricadela of Information Week has just published a fairly accurate “state of the Tablet PC” article . I was actually pretty impressed with the article.
Aaron does a pretty decent job in covering the latest tablet pc initiatives, such as touch screens, summarizing the struggles, as well as point to where Vista will help bring some of this together.
Sales of the pen-based computers, which let users write text or issue commands with an electronic stylus, are set to increase 88% this year to 1.2 million units, according to market researcher IDC. Yet they'll remain just 2% of the overall notebook market.
I loved this quote from Michael Byrd, Baylor Healthcare Systems corporate director of technology integration:
Baylor is budgeting $1.5 million to $3 million for tablet PC hardware and software development during the fiscal year that ends next June, Byrd says. But some hospitals may continue to avoid tablet PCs unless their weight drops to less than a pound and their price to less than $1,000. If they do, "that's when adoption will explode, especially in health care," Byrd predicts. Bundled with accessories and preloaded software, tablets from Motion Computing can run $2,500 to $3,000, Byrd says.
It is going to take time to get to that price point and weight, but we’ll get there. The good thing that this article shows is that Microsoft is still fully behind the tablet pc, as well as the OEM’s.
I walked away from the article thinking – the OEM’s have recognized issues and tackling them: are there challenges? you bet. Stuck in a niche? no…we are just about to hit the prime time.
