TechFlash has a reliable source that says that Microsoft is may be working on a project that is “reviving the Tablet PC.” As a big fan of the Tablet, this is exciting to me on a number of levels. While this is just a rumor, it could easily happen, although there is no question that Microsoft let the Tablet PC languish to the point that it needs reviving. If Microsoft is indeed planning something to revive interest in the Tablet platform, it may be the strongest indicator yet that Apple is working on a consumer Tablet.
The Tablet PC is one of those products that should be more popular than it is simply because of the utility the form provides. The reason the Tablet never took off in the first place was largely because of the insistence that they be regular computers that could also do inking. This caused the evolution of the slate Tablet to be directed to the convertible laptop form, which negated much of the advantages a slate brings to the table. Convertible notebooks are too expensive and too heavy/bulky to be Tablets that appeal to the consumer.
The rumors that Apple is working on a consumer Tablet just won’t die, and if Microsoft is seriously trying to revive the Tablet PC, it might lend credence to those iTablet rumors. Apple knows how to play in the consumer space as well as anyone, and a large iPod-like Tablet would be a ground-breaking device. Microsoft would be left with a lot of egg on its face if Apple were able to bring out a successful consumer Tablet, given that the folks in Redmond invented the genre.
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