Tablet PCs Tough It Out

In fact, the pen computing market is filled with examples of much-hyped pen products and companies from the early 1990s that ended up in the dustbin of history, including Momenta, Go Computing and Apple Computer's Newton. But Microsoft executives dismiss any notion that the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition will have the same fate as the longforgotten Windows for Pen Computing.

So far, though, it appears that the newest pen products suffer from many of the problems that plagued earlier versions.

"They're too heavy, too hot, too fragile and too expensive," said John Parkinson, chief technologist for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's Americas region. Customer adoption will remain limited until tablets feature improved battery life and faster handwriting recognition, he said.

At least some of those criticisms could fade next year when Microsoft is expected to release its Tablet PC OS upgrade, code-named Lonestar. Sources familiar with Lonestar say it will include enhanced handwriting-recognition, instant-messaging and collaboration capabilities.

In the near term, however, partners expect potential customers will respond to 10 new next-generation Tablet PCs, from a variety of vendors, featuring larger displays and better battery life. The Tablet PCs are slated to be launched at Comdex.

"Once the economy is in full swing and once the hardware vendors start to introduce improved models, you will see a lot of growth in tablet use and adoption," said Michael Cocanower, president of solution provider ITSynergy, Phoenix.

But while Tablet improvements march on, PDA and cell phone technologies advance at a run. Ken Winell, president of Econium, a solution provider in Totowa, N.J., which has sold a few hundred Tablet PCs in the past year, said those advances have hurt Microsoft. "It has a couple of strikes against it," he said. "The Tablet PC is getting squeezed by [Research In Motion's] BlackBerry and smarter cell phones that have portability and typing. They're eating at the heels of the Tablet PCs."