With CES coming shortly, everyone’s attention has been turned to Apple and their new “iTablet”. There is no question that Apple makes quality products, this is not the debate. From speaking to people and reading everything I can about what new technology is “in the pipeline”, I have found that many believe that Apple is about to unveil something we’ve never seen before. Odds are that we may eventually see a tablet-like pc from Apple, but this is not some new technological achievement that hasn’t been done before. Many manufacturers, like Microsoft, have been involved in tablet PC’s for many years. The difference, people expect Apple to unveil some brand new ground-breaking technology that we’ve been waiting for all of our lives…I wouldn’t count on it.
While I believe that we will see a tablet PC from Apple soon and it may have some new ideas and an infrastructure of apps due to the iPhone app store, I certainly do not see why everyone is holding their breathe and have been for years for something that has been around for quite some time. What I believe we can expect to see are improvements in hardware and software for tablet PC’s as well as a whole new list of companies trying their hand at the niche market.
One particular item that I am very excited about is the Microsoft Courier. I first read about the Courier earlier in the year in a Gizmodo article describing the secret tablet PC and while the concept is definitely a niche market, it should be a great tool for executives and those who daily use electronics to stay organized. For those who haven’t yet heard or seen concepts of the Courier, it is a dual-screen tablet computer that uses advancements made by the Surface and the Zune HD to bring a touch-friendly interface to the tablet PC world. It looks like a book of tablet PC’s on both sides with a hinge in the middle. For more information and a video on the prototype, click here.
Courtesy of Gizmodo
Microsoft has been very quiet concerning the Courier and whether we might see a live prototype at the coming convention, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to use CES to steal some of Apple’s iTablet thunder.
Other than the Courier, I am very excited to see what tablet PC makers do with the Windows 7 operating system. Windows 7 is obviously made for the use of touch computing and with new features, lower battery consumption and great reviews coming in steadily, PC manufactures should have no problem adopting the OS for their new tablets. The main issue with tablet PC’s in the past was the lack of an app infrastructure coupled with a clunky feel, being more like a laptop than a true tablet. This could all change, especially since we’ve seen Microsoft make leaps in hardware quality with the OLED Zune HD.
I am probably not one for tablet PC’s, but I can definitely see a use for them. The question is: has Microsoft and other manufacturers finally equalized their hardware and ingenuity with what Apple may unveil in the coming months?
Well, Microsoft hasn’t actually been MAKING Tablet PCs, but they did come out with Windows for Pen Computing in 1992 or so in response to a threat from PenPoint, the Pen Extensions for Windows 95 in 96, and in 2001 Gates “reinvented” the Tablet PC concept. That said, with regard to “Courier,” check pencomputing.com/images/apple_knowledge_navigator_1987.jpg and you’ll see that nothing is ever totally new…
Thanks for pointing out my mistake about Microsoft “making” tablet PC’s, which I have corrected.
What I meant is that they have been in the business, not actually producing the hardware.
http://www.archos.com/products/nb/archos_9/index.html?country=us&lang=en
Yeah, nothing new from apple. I’m buying this one for windows.
http://www.archos.com/products/nb/archos_9/index.html?country=us&lang=en
Yeah, not a new idea. I’m going to get this one for windows.
Tablets have been around for awhile now, the first portable one to hit the market, that I can recall is the Apple MessagePad running NewtonOS way back in 1993 (with the first commercially available portable handwriting recognition software…albeit…limited). Apple ceased development of the Newton platform in 1998-ish.
After that, i remember Microsoft championing TabletPCs around the time of the dot-com bust. Overpriced, nothing new’ except for touch screen controls on existing hardware using the same interface that they had on regular computers.
I find the spin of the article a little pessimistic.
MP3 players were around way before the iPod, and i remember how terrible (usability, design, software) they were. The iPod was ‘nothing new’ either, if all you’re looking at is the hardware. Look at the product as a whole, and it was a leap-frog product in portable music devices.
Smart Phones were around before the iPhone. Palm, Symbian, WindowsCE(lol) were all players. Then the iPhone comes along….. if all you look at is the hardware, it was very familiar to the what the others were offering. Then you look at the system, the way the software makes it usable, easy to use…something as simple at the ‘type-writer-keys’ when you use the on screen keyboard, of the way you scroll(instead of thin scroll bars) or the way a magnifying-glass appears when you are moving the cursor, and all the multi-touch controls…. sure the hardware specs might be identical to some of the other phones around, but the product was way ahead in terms of usability, design, ease-of-use, etc…. and that’s why it is a ‘leap-frog’ product that the rest of the industry is still trying to catch up with.
With the Tablet, sure they’ve been around for almost 2 decades now, starting with the Apple MessagePad, but given Apple’s recent history in portable devices, i would be a lot more optimistic about what they will do to make this product category so much better than what’s on offer right now.
The hardware for MP3 players, smartphones, and computers….is inconsequential to me as a user. It’s what these companies do with that hardware in terms of the systems they build on top of that hardware that determine the ‘quality’ of the product (imo).
Example: The year is 1984…the two options for computers are:
1. IBM clone with a faster processor, more RAM, higher resolution and color screen….. Running MS-DOS.OR
2. Apple Macintosh with a slower processor, lower RAM, B&W display….running MacOS 1.0 (GUI).
There’s a difference there, despite the hardware. DOS vs MacOS.
A challenge….. select the best current tabletPC out there on the 25th of January, and then compare it to Apple’s offerings on the 27th….benchmark not just the hardware specifications, but also the volume, weight, battery life. And the subjective benchmarks of user interface, features, etc…. then consider where tablets are as of the 25th, and where the Apple tablet is, and if the rest of the industry will change course(like it did with MP3 players and smart phones) after Apple releases its system.
This is how I see it.
Microsoft produces some product either something already in existence, or something new. Apple sees it and makes it looks pretty, maybe a bit faster, etc.
So even if Microsoft does make something cool with tablets, Apple will just take that, make it shiny and white, and call it something amazingly new.
Just watched MS keynote. Boring as hell. Nothing new. I was hoping they would have the sack to show the Courier. oh well, apple wins again.
Nothing new ever comes from Apple. All their products are a ripped off from someone else like: iPhone, MAC, iPods, and now tablets… What’s next on the list for them to copy on their photocopiers. LOL
The tablet PC is here and the world is like focusing in it in 2010. I might not get one but I would love to try it. As long it is Windows 7 and I would also like to try the Apple tablet.