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Microsoft launches tablet PC OS
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Friday, November 8, 2002
Despite a fervent kickoff by 24 vendors today, the tablet PC must still prove itself in the market.
Commercial PC buyers are likely to spend next year evaluating the pen-based, tablet-sized computer, which is being targeted at a wide range of business applications, according to analysts and several computer companies.
Microsoft Corp. orchestrated the launch by introducing a version of the Windows XP operating system tailored for the tablet PC. But even amid the drum-beating, two major PC makers -- Dell Computer Co. and IBM Corp. -- were missing from the group of more than 20 companies debuting the new systems. Both are waiting to see how the market develops.
"Only the bravest will implement tablet PCs widely toward the end of 2003," said Leslie Fiering, an analyst at Gartner Dataquest, citing price premiums of $200 to $400 over thin-and-light notebook PCs as a barrier.
Fiering expects a six- to nine-month evaluation period before any volume purchases result. Few expect the tablet PC to be the catalyst to jump-start a sluggish PC market, but some are hopeful.
"Everyone would like to see this product stimulate the [PC] buying cycle. Over time, if business customers implement tablet PCs, it could provide a tangible increased sales benefit," said Tom Bernhard, director of strategic planning for Fujitsu PC Corp., which has been making tablet PCs for 12 years.
According to Gartner Dataquest, only 425,000 tablet PCs are expected to ship next year. It won't be until 2005 when demand begins to take off as users become more comfortable with the tablet PC and prices come down. By 2007, nearly 22 million tablet PCs are expected to ship and account for 35% of the total notebook market.
Although Dell was absent from the hoopla, it hasn't ruled out participation in the market. Dell is selling tablet PCs for ViewSonics Corp. and Motion Computing through its peripherals group. When tablet PCs have matured into a stable market, Dell will launch its own version, said Tony Bonadero, Dell's director of marketing for Latitude notebook PCs, Austin, Texas.
"It's clear that if you make notebook PCs, at some point you must think about making tablet PCs," Bonadero said. "Tablet PCs need to make many changes. The current 10.4-in. screens are too small. They also need to be more pen-friendly. But it's not a question of 'if' tablet PCs will become a product line, but when."
For Transmeta Corp., however, tablet PCs have already been a notable success, as the low-power processor company got one of its biggest design wins by breaking into HP Compaq for the first time. Transmeta will supply its first version of the 1GHz Crusoe 5800 chip for the Compaq Tablet PC TC 1000.
"A new [PC] form factor takes a while to catch on. It remains to be seen how the market will play out," said Mike DeNeffe, vice president of marketing for Transmeta, Santa Clara, Calif.
Other tablet PCs unveiled last week use Intel Corp.'s Pentium IIIM processor or Via Technologies Inc.'s C3 E-series chips. Transmeta is also supplying 900MHz Crusoe processors to First International Corp. and other Taiwanese white-box builders. A spokeswoman for Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., confirmed that the company has no processors yet for tablet PCs.
Intel's Banias, a low-power mobile processor scheduled to be released early next year, also is expected to find its way into tablet PCs.
By: DocMemory
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