October 5, 2009, 5:16 pm Why Have Tablets Flopped? Here Are Five Reasons By Brad Stone NY Times
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/the-top-five-reasons-tablet-computers-have-failed/?pagemode=print As the editor of publications like Rugged PC Review and the founder of Pen Computing Magazine, Conrad Blickenstorfer has been reporting on tablet computers for over two decades. He still remembers, for instance, when a Microsoft executive predicted in 1991 that “the impact of pens on computing will be far greater than the mouse,” creating low-cost portable PCs “that will appeal to a broader spectrum of users than ever before.” It didn’t happen, of course, and today, in response to our article on the new enthusiasm for this market, Mr. Blickenstorfer sent in five reasons tablet systems haven’t really caught on. 1. Commitment. No one has ever made a truly committed effort to design a great tablet, though the original I.B.M. ThinkPad was, in fact, a tablet, Mr. Blickenstorfer wrote. 2. Technology. The underlying software and hardware were not ready for prime time, especially touch screens. “The sole reason for the renewed interest is that with the iPhone, Apple has shown that touch can work elegantly, effortlessly and beautifully,” Mr. Blickendorfer wrote. “Copycat efforts will not succeed unless the copies also work elegantly, effortlessly and beautifully, which will be quite a challenge.” 3. Input systems. Tablets were based on immature technologies, like handwriting recognition and voice recognition, that weren’t ready. One promising effort — Palm’s Graffiti — was subject to an intellectual property dispute, and Palm ultimately gave up on the effort. Another initiative, dubbed ParaGraph, was “absorbed by Microsoft and now lingers in the mediocre Windows handwriting recognition implementation,” Mr. Blickstorfer wrote. 4. Price. Tablets have been positioned as premium-priced products. “No one wants to pay a lot extra to get a pen, especially when there is no compelling reason to do so,” he wrote. 5. Finally, software. Windows was designed for use with a mouse and is simply not suited for tablets. Considering most tablets have run Windows for the last eight years, “this is by far the most important reason why tablets never succeeded,” he said. -- ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
