This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Agile Buzz by James Robertson. Original Post: Of Tablets and markets Feed Title: Cincom Smalltalk Blog - Smalltalk with Rants Feed URL: http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/rssBlog/rssBlogView.xml Feed Description: James Robertson comments on Cincom Smalltalk, the Smalltalk development community, and IT trends and issues in general. Latest Agile Buzz Posts Latest Agile Buzz Posts by James Robertson Latest Posts From Cincom Smalltalk Blog - Smalltalk with Rants

There are a few posts on the Tablet PC this am - Scoble over here, Julia Lerman here, and the story that spawned these posts here. I think the lot of them miss something crucial - IMHO, the Tablet is a niche product. Yes, I'm sure that people do like them when they see them. I'm also sure that most people have no real need to scribble on a screen. Think about it - how many tasks do you actually do in a day that would justify the extra cost of a Tablet? To my mind, the Tablet is a great product for a set of vertical markets - and a nice to have, but not important thing for everyone else.

Now, that may change - 5 years ago, notebooks were not something that most people thought of as a desktop replacement - that's not the case now. Over time, the Tablet may become that way as well - but I think this will happen only as the price differential drops towards nil.