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Is There Still Hope for Tablet PCs?

Techstination feature for Thursday, October 13, 2005

Is there still hope for the tablet PC? Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. When Microsoft came out with the Tablet edition of Windows nearly three years ago, executives were predicting that it wouldn't be long before all notebook computers would evolve into tablets…allowing users to write on their screens. Dell …the number one PC maker…. still hasn't bought into the concept. But it isn't dead yet. Lenovo….which now makes the Thinkpad brand ….recently came out with its first tablet. And Gateway is out with a new model…that it calls the first mainstream Tablet PC….the M280. Director of notebook marketing Chad McDonald….says there are several reasons why tablet PCs may be ready to take off…

"I think the operating system has improved. Microsoft continues to improve upon the functionality of the operating system. So that's one. That's definitely helped. The other thing that's helped, I think, on our side, I think that we've developed, I think just a better mainstream notebook. It's a really solid notebook on its own, which is attractive to people. And when you add the tablet functionality, it's even more attractive. And then lastly, the price premium has come down from what we talked about before, come down from about a five hundred dollar premium for a tablet down to about two hundred. So now we're in a range where people are really saying is this functionality really worth two hundred dollars and people are starting to vote yes."

While tablet PCs are still just a small percentage of overall notebook sales, McDonald says its growing. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.