Tablet PCs to catch on slowly, says Gartner

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

NEWS
Microsoft mounted a strong sales pitch for the full range of mobile flavours of Windows at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Cannes on Tuesday. Leading the onslaught was president of Microsoft EMEA, Jean Phillipe Curtois, who walked on stage for his morning Q&A session carrying a tablet PC. But any hopes Curtois might have had of banging the drum for tablet PCs were halted by Gartner's Peter Sondergaard, who was resolute in reminding the audience of Gartner's criticisms of the tablet form factor -- eventually forcing Curtois to concede that addressing some of Gartner's objections might take "some time". In a new report, Gartner projects that hardware based on the Tablet PC operating system will make up only slightly more than 1 percent of notebook sales in 2003. Standing in the way of wider adoption are "a lack of application support, clumsy hardware designs and a price premium will be barriers for most users," said Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney. Microsoft's director of marketing for the EMEA mobile devices group, Robbie Wright, smiled through a series of demo gremlins to score some direct sales points for the tablet PC later in the day, with a hands-on demonstration of Microsoft's four mobile platforms: Tablet PC, Windows Powered Smartphone 2002, Pocket PC Phone Edition, and Pocket PC. Wright argued that using a tablet PC in a business meeting is more socially acceptable than using a notebook. In a customer meeting, "it is not really appropriate to pop out your laptop and start typing away -- however, when you are writing notes it looks like you are at least paying attention... so we think the tablet PC is a replacement or upgrade for a laptop that makes a lot of sense in terms of increasing productivity," he said. Security is still an issue for firms looking to deploy mobile devices, according to Wright. "Security, security, security" is constantly brought up by IS staff whenever you engage them about mobile devices, he said, adding that Microsoft has listened to the criticisms of security in some mobile devices and was committed to boosting security levels in Pocket PC. Windows Powered Smartphone owners can look forward to a tidal wave of new applications, according to Microsoft: "One to two hundred in the next six months, and one to two thousand in the next eighteen months," promised Wright. Sondergaard said that Gartner believed the tablet PC would only achieve a "slow uptake". "One of the problems we have with the curent edition is that it's still not completely embedded with the operating system... its not so much the form factor, but more the aspects of the integration with the operating system."
See the Hardware News Section for the latest update on everything from MP3 players and PDAs to supercomputing. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the ZDNet news forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

tinycg

Don't forget to check out apps like GoodReader or SlideShark either, they're indispensible for people on the go in presentation situations. Best...

53 minutes ago by tinycg on Four top iPad apps for people on the move
TerryRK

Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...

6 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Freebies202

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

15 hours ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source
kevinmchapman

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

23 hours ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Marg Menzies Harrison

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

1 day ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid
zdnetukuser

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

1 day ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface
Moley

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

1 day ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Dennis Nilsson

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

1 day ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany
GHar123

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

1 day ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
JCB33

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

2 days ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
Moley

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

2 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
greycynic

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

2 days ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
GrueMaster

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

2 days ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Frederick Wrigley

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

2 days ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
bdantas

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

2 days ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

2 days ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material