

Why 2010 Will Be the Year of the Tablet - edw519
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/08/dell-intel-tablet/

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roc
I'm a big fan of the idea of a larger-screen ipod touch. However, even I
acknowledge the _likeliest_ outcome in 2010 is:

1\. Apple doesn't release a tablet. 2\. The Crunchpad goes over like the n800.
Capable, but ignored by almost everyone. 3\. The Dell/Intel collaboration
produces no actual product. (like their much-rumored phone and then their more
recently-rumored non-phone.) 4\. A few vendors put out Windows 7 tablets that
continue to be stylus-centric and fail to expand the limited windows tablet
market.

If anything, Wired putting out this piece tempts me to bet on a disappointing
2010 for tablets. Their prognostication track-record is just _awful_.

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charlesju
Is it just me or does anyone else here find zero desire to own a tablet.

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jherdman
It's not just you. I think tablets are a over-hyped idea. I think we'll see
things like mobile phones take their place. I do, however, see natural input
(such as writing and drawing) making their way on to notebook computers.

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teuobk
Could somebody remind me what problem it is that tablets are supposed to be
solving for mainstream computer users? Sure, I've owned tablets in the past
(models made by Motion, mostly), but I've always liked them more as
technological curiosities rather than practical tools. Will non-niche computer
users really want a tablet just to enable media distribution? Where is the
burning need?

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judofyr
How many "X will be the year of Y" have actually turned out to be true?

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timcederman
It was scary doing research on technologies for my thesis, and finding
articles about each from years back.

"2000 will be the year of Bluetooth"

"1996 will be the year of speech recognition"

"1998 will be the year of gesture recognition"

(not actual years from articles, just approximates from memory)

