Are Tablets Good For You?

Just a few days ago, Apple’s iPad was released, with a reported 300,000 sales [1], not bad for your 1st day.*Update 3/5/10* 1 million iPads sold in, wait for it, 28 days![2] With Dell announcing their Android powered tablet the Dell 'Streak', and HP releasing details of their upcoming HP Slate tablet PC quite regularly to draw attention away from the iPad, all of a sudden Tablet PC’s are the ‘in’ thing of the moment in the technology world. *Update 13/4/10* Now it seems that Google intends to enter the Tablet market too![3]

Tablet PC’s are by no means a new idea, with Apple releasing their ‘Newton’ in 1993, to little success. It chugged on regardless until it’s cancellation in 1998. Microsoft had been quietly supporting Tablets throughout the ‘00s, with Bill Gates stating in 2001 he believed Tablet would be bigger than PC’s by 2006! Not quite Bill.

Microsoft's History With the Tablet PC

If Tablets do take off now, I don’t think I’ll be too far off by saying Apple caused it. The iPod revolutionised portable music, the iPhone kicked started a flagging smartphone market and maybe the iPad will do the same, if the initial sales are anything to go by, it just might. Consumers might not need a tablet PC any more than they need to have Blu-ray players, but many will want them and buy them anyway.

Personally I like the idea of a Tablet PC, the mobility and freedom given would be amazing. The convenience factor alone makes it a killer device plus with the specs, capabilities and possibilities of Tablet Pc’s like the iPad and the Slate are mind-boggling for their size.

However.

All you have to do is go back a mere three years to see a major manufacturer launching a Tablet-type device, Samsung and their UMPC [Ultra Mobile PC] the Q1, which garnered great reception from several technology show cases only to slip into relative obscurity. The problem was that the device had trouble finding a market and never really took off.



UMPCs eventually evolved into Netbooks, which proved very popular. Might the tablet, a device which offers a similar set of functions face the same issues and the same fate? Or will the giant investment from the likes of Apple and HP ensure the Tablet fares better than UMPC’s? Time will tell.

Further Reading:
Wired.com - How the Tablet Will Change the World