More than 200 local technology aficionados got to see what all the hype was about during the local launch of Microsoft’s new Tablet PC at the Rhode Island Convention Center last week.
Replete with a booming sound system and splashy videos, Microsoft unveiled its latest offering, which lets users scribble notes directly on the screen using a digital pen. The handwriting is automatically converted into text to be used in virtually any application, such as Word and PowerPoint files and even embedded in e-mail messages.
Microsoft, which invested $400 million in the product, is marketing the Tablet PC as a business-productivity tool, ideal for salespeople, warehouse managers, lab workers – virtually anyone who regularly uses a pen and paper. The promotional video at ITEC showed an on-the-go executive in a limousine, scribbling away on his Table PC.
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“It delivers new ways for people to be productive,” said Kevin Sheehan, business productivity advisor for Microsoft. “It finally bridges the gap between paper and electronic forms.”
The Tablet PC runs on Microsoft’s latest operating system offering: Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.
A number of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are making the actual computers, including Hewlett-Packard Co., Fujitsu Ltd., Acer Inc. and Toshiba Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and Panasonic.
The tablet models displayed at ITEC had two primary designs: “slate” versions use a variety of detachable keyboard designs, while machines with attached keyboards can be configured into traditional “clamshell” mode. Retail prices generally range from $1,700 to about $2,500, or $150 to $450 more than comparable laptops, according to Gartner Inc., a market research firm.
The price will make it hard to attract many sales because companies are looking to trim spending on computers, analysts say. “A lot of CEOs look at it and say, ‘I can’t afford the difference,’” said Leslie Fiering, an analyst at Gartner’s Dataquest unit.
Microsoft representatives during the ITEC presentation touted the device as ideal for taking notes in corporate meetings, which often aren’t convenient for traditional laptops.
Vin DiPippo, chief of technology for Focus 24, an information technology company based in Cranston, said the company likely will buy a Tablet PC as a demo to see if it makes sense for the firm.
Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
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