Bill Gates has vowed to stay true to the Tablet PC–and, in fact, could sales be about to take off from the present 1.2 million units expected to ship this year? Maybe–to the advantage of e-books. From CNET:

It’s fair to say the convertible notebook share of total laptop sales could increase as the years go by for one simple reason–price. Today, making a convertible laptop can cost $300 more than a typical notebook. But as manufacturers ramp up their tablet production during the next two years, that premium could drop to $75, said Roger Kay, an independent analyst.

Also, as PC manufacturers deal with constant pressure to reduce the prices of their basic models, tablet capabilities could well become one of those nifty features PC makers offer to up their profits.

So what else might help?

1. Microsoft could reduce size and weight. That would especially help make the Tablet PC a more viable e-book reader. Who knows, maybe it wouldn’t pose such a threat at bedtime.

2. Tablet PC makers could arrange with chip companies to mass-produce powerful voice-recognition systems on inexpensive chips. This is an issue dear to me, as a user of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Dragon is a notorious hog of resources, but I’m wondering if there might not be a way to increase efficiency and drive down the cost with chips dedicated to this purpose–to reduce the strain on the rest of the system. Maybe they could do double duty in the area of handwriting recognition. Major caveat: I am not a chip expert and would very much welcome comments from people who actually are.

(Via jkontherun. Also see MobileRead article.)

2 COMMENTS

  1. Fujitsu’s Lifebook 1510D is a promising entry into a smaller, light-weight tablet device (that is also a convertible). I have one on order, and if my vendor ever figures out if they actually have them in the warehouse or not, I will write up a detailed review. The specs on paper look good: 8″ widescreen, 2.2 pounds with a standard battery. It wasn’t even all that expensive compared to most tablets out there.

    Microsoft can’t do anything about the hardware; they just make recommendations. It is up to the hardware vendors to do that. What Microsoft needs to do is eliminate the price premium between XP Pro and XP Tablet edition, and frankly, eliminate Tablet edition entirely and just roll its functionality into XP itself.

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