It’s about the mobility, not the handwriting
I was having a conversation with Kevin just this morning about how the Tablet PC fits in the mobility scene. My contention was that while the handwriting is very important to my work I believe that with many it’s the mobility of the device that is paramount. Our chat went on to explore how these new mini-notebooks are smaller, thinner and lighter than most convertible Tablet PCs and that I think OEMs better be paying attention to this fact.
Imagine my surprise to find that John Hill, owner of Allegiance Technology Partners (Tablet PC reseller) and owner of Tablet PC Buzz, has penned a guest article for GottaBeMobile that addresses this very topic. What is telling to me is what John said about the main feature his customers are needing from their mobile devices:
If I’ve learned anything about marketing Tablet PCs, it is this: it isall about mobility. I used to think it was about handwriting. It isnot. Our success has come from finding people who need to do their workwhile walking around. Think appraisers, inspectors, medical staff,landscapers, service techs and builders. These are people who aren’tmaking money unless they are on the job site or in front of theircustomer. It is easy for them to understand the return on investment ofa tablet computer.
I agree with this 100% but I contend that as these industries realize how mobile these mini-notebooks can be for field work that we may see them picked up in droves. Now I definitely believe that Tablet PCs would provide more functionality for this type of field work but generally the easier the device is to transport to the work site the more likely it will be brought along and used.
This goes hand in hand with the recent comments by Active Ink Software, developers of Tablet PC form entry software, about their five year battle trying to make a living in the Tablet PC space. They are one of the longest-running Tablet PC developers who have a program that is tailor-made for the Tablet PC’s major functionality.
As a tablet PC software developer, I feel your pain. We created an electronic form data entry application for the tablet PC five years ago and continue to have a loyal customer base but our expectations regarding tablet PC sales have never been realized.
This reinforces Hill’s comments that I agree with, it’s about the mobility, not the handwriting for most customers. I guarantee it’s about price, too, so these mini-notebooks may be getting ready to take a big chunk of the mobile PC business.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
I disagree. I think it is about mobility and handwriting (recognition). I think this is the strength of a tablet pc. Especially when it comes to medical staff. Doctors are known not to have the best handwriting. Reconizable inking to text is an unimaginable vital and useful tool in the medical staff. It has come a long way, but could still have much more research and development put into improving this tool (both faster and better multilingual recognition!).
James, does this mean that you aren’t inking on your p1620 or 2710 as much as you used to? Spending time on gottabemobile.com was getting me to start lusting after a Tablet PC and then I read your post. you give me pause.
Tax Man, no, not at all. As I mentioned handwriting is VERY important to me and my work but what it means is that for many it’s not so important, I guess.
I am in education. Many of us use tablets for teaching-annotating powerpoint presentations or PDF presentations in class. It is great to use a computer like a blackboard in class since you can post the marked up slides for the students after class.
Handwriting recognition is irrelevant doe most of us. If apple ever gets a solution to markup presentations in class we will all switch.
Despite my obvious personal affinity for the handwriting aspect, I firmly agree Tablet PCs are about mobility. Handwriting is critical because it enables that mobility, but it is a means to that end, not the end itself.
I’m curious as to why vertical markets haven’t picked up UMPCs more. Just about every UMPC is cheaper than almost every Tablet PC, and mostly lighter and more portable, while in some cases offering even more functionality – thank you, Vista, for a change. Is it just that no one markets UMPCs to the verticals?
Paul,
We have sold UMPCs to some companies who have a single, specific, low requirement application (moving company for recording furniture items and as a front end for a medical device requiring touch screen input). The biggest reason people don’t choose a UMPC is the screen size. If you are using a form, or a customer needs to read terms & conditions before they sign, or if you are sketching a house, the 7″ screen size just isn’t enough space to get the job done. That is why I’m not sure the mini-notebooks are going to be such a disruption to tablet PC sales. Will all the time people spend in front of the screen reading, watching video and recording their thoughts, the screen size is very important. We continue to sell 12″ tablets instead of 10.4″ at a much higher rate for this same reason.
The problem with tablets is that nobody takes the time to learn to me them as tablets. They are used as laptops that have an extra gimmick. As I sit here I have four other people with tablets arrayed around me and I am the only one that is using the pen, in fact that never uses the keyboard!
Part of this is down to the convertible form factor that allows the manufactures to take less risk. People think to use it as a notebook till they get time to get used to inking and in todays world there is never time!
The tablet is a whole new Way of computing, but you have to embrace it to get Value from it sadly four people are Willing to make this Shift. My hope is that multi touch and the iPhones popularity will breed more people willing to work in a tablet fashion.