Tablet PC emerges from block of wood
Dick Brass, a software entrepreneur who joined Microsoft in 1997 largely to develop a device like the Tablet, needed a model to pitch the concept to Gates.
"We were going to go to one of the expensive design shops but they wanted $40,000," Brass said.
Instead, a carpenter working on Brass' boat made one for $2,000 — about the price of the machines going on sale today — based on a concept by Chuck Thacker, a personal-computing pioneer now working in Microsoft's research group.
Brass got in trouble because his new employer didn't like to reimburse cash expenses, but the model was a hit with Gates.
"He said, 'Yes, this is something we want to build here; we need to make this happen,' " Brass said.
Gates and others in the industry have long dreamed of computers that are small, portable and powerful enough to be used almost anywhere.
If their hunch is correct and this is the future of computing, the Tablet PC could invigorate the ailing computer and software industries.
If they are wrong, the roughly $2,000 machines will end up on the island of misfit computers, along with the failed Newton and the Pen computer Gates pushed in the early 1990s.
But even the most skeptical analysts believe Gates is onto something this time. They expect the new machines to gradually seep into the mix of computers sold, after starting out in large companies.
Unlike the Newton and Pen computers, Tablet PCs are being made by more than a dozen companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, Acer and Fujitsu.
Some are souped-up laptops with a special screen on which users can write with an electric pen. Others are notepad-like "slates" resembling an Etch-A-Sketch toy with a full-powered PC inside.
Microsoft is also downplaying the handwriting-recognition technology, the accuracy of which varies wildly depending on the user. Instead, it's emphasizing the software's ability to save and edit handwritten notes in their original form, and the convenience of entering data with a pen.
Two research companies, Gartner and IDC, expect 425,000 to 770,000 of the machines to be sold in the coming year and predict that they could account for a third to half of all portable computers sold by 2007.
"It's coming but slowly," said Leslie Fiering, Gartner vice president. "We see that there is real potential for it, but the adoption curve is not going to be immediate."
Fiering said Microsoft erred in presenting the Tablet as a revolutionary hardware platform, setting expectations high. It should have been pitched mostly as an extension of Windows, she said.
"This is all about Microsoft strengthening and extending the operating system so it can handle multiple-media types and multiple forms of input," she said.
Microsoft may have more in store for the Tablet's electronic "Ink" technology and high-resolution text display. If it becomes widely accepted, the software could go into other Windows-powered machines such as phones, ATMs, kiosks and even refrigerators with PCs built into the door.
In its current form, as an evolution of the laptop, the Tablet could be a runaway hit, said Craig Johnson, vice president of portfolio strategy at US Bancorp in Minneapolis.
Microsoft tested early versions in Minnesota, and Johnson heard positive feedback from testers, including Northwest Airlines, where pilots may use them as digital logbooks.
"I think the Tablet is a sleeper that people have not really focused on," Johnson said. "It's going to be a product that a lot of tech people have wanted for years."
Tablet-shaped PCs without Microsoft's handwriting technology have long been available as a niche product, but they were more expensive and used mostly in special situations, including hospitals.
Fujitsu has sold hundreds of thousands of slate PCs with pen-input software to field workers and other specialty users. It expects that Microsoft's new technology will expand its market beyond those niches, said Kyle Thornton, senior product-marketing manager.
Safeco is testing several Tablet PCs and will likely buy more, although it recently bought other PCs for its claims adjusters and won't replace them immediately, said Yom Senegor, chief information officer at the Seattle-based insurer.
Microsoft has also lined up an array of software companies to produce special programs for the Tablet, including Adobe, Corel and smaller companies.
Cursivecode was converted after Brass, of Microsoft, hired it to design a special Tablet program that will debut at the Comdex trade show this month in Las Vegas.
In 2000 the company developed a digital wine list for Aureole, a high-end restaurant with locations in New York and Las Vegas. The notepad computers are placed on the table so diners can peruse the 3,000 to 5,000 bottles; the stock list is updated when they order.
Brass hired the company to base a new version for about 20 Hewlett-Packard Tablet PCs that the Las Vegas site will begin using Nov. 17, the night Microsoft is holding a party there after Gates' speech at Comdex. With the new version, diners may also send handwritten notes to the chef and watch streaming video from the kitchen.
"I see it as being a tool you're going to see in the consumer market," said Cursivecode strategist Dave McKeavue. "A business owner is going to use it to get their message to the end user. Applications are going to be needed to drive that market. It's just unlimited when you think about it."
Brier Dudley: 206-515-5687 or bdudley@seattletimes.com.