Developed by Microsoft and Acer, the Tablet PC is a state-of-the-art gadget aimed at CXOs who want something more than a vanilla ultraslim notebook. Recognising scribbles and doodles, the Tablet PC is poised to transform the high-end notebook category in the next year or two, says Prashant L Rao

When is a notebook not a notebook? Why, when it’s also a high-tech writing pad that stores handwriting as the aptly named ‘digital ink’. The gadget in question is called the Tablet PC. It happens to be one of the bees in Bill Gates’ bonnet and a lot of research and development has gone into creating a device that offers decent handwriting recognition without requiring you to master a unique way of writing such as is required with Palm’s Graffiti.

The need for an electronic writing pad
The story begins about 18 months ago at which point in time Acer and Microsoft embarked on an exclusive collaboration to create the Tablet PC. They undertook a combined study from which two key take-outs were derived—CEOs attended 40 meetings every month and there were close to 400 occasions when notes had to be taken. A large percentage of these were not getting transferred onto a computer. The other finding was that often it was just informal feedback that was required, lacking which companies suffered a loss of productivity. The goal was to start with the notebook as a base platform and add handwriting recognition to the mix.

More than a notebook
For a new genre of gadget, the Tablet PC has many variants. HP’s tablet, for instance, has the electronics integrated into the slate. Acer, on the other hand, has designed a notebook with an LCD panel that can be rotated, detached, turned around and snapped into place to turn into a Tablet PC. The screen for the Acer TravelMate C100 came from the digitiser world—stronger and harder with lower power consumption and abrasion-proof to boot. Acer supplies an additional battery with the pack. A smart card is provided for access control in the Acer tablet. Both Acer and HP have built lightweight units that weigh in at 3 pounds with 10.4” screens. The screen of HP’s Tablet PC TC1000 is protected by tempered glass. A key difference is that unlike Acer’s design that uses a Pentium III chip, HP’s uses Transmeta’s TM5800 processor running at 1 GHz. Otherwise both are similar in specification, offering wireless connectivity in addition to Ethernet and dial-up.

By H2 2003, high-end notebooks from Acer will offer Tablet as a standard feature says S Rajendran

Who needs a Tablet PC anyway?
Tablets are aimed at CXOs (CEOs, CIOs, CFOs and CTOs). The ability to write on a virtual pad or take voice memos that can be acted upon without having to be re-entered is the key here. For legal and medical professionals, project managers, executive assistants, marketing and sales professionals, it’s a clear case of being able to input data anywhere. The verticals being targeted are healthcare and the banking, financial services & insurance (BFSI) sector. Manipal Hospital has already purchased 50 Tablet PCs.

The story so far
Acer has conducted partner meets and programmes for premier schools to showcase the Tablet PC along with Microsoft. The company has undertaken two direct mail campaigns, one over snail mail and one over e-mail. There are product displays at Mumbai and Delhi airports. Acer gets 30 to 50 enquiries every day from CXOs as a result. From the last week of November, in 20 days Acer sold 25 units. “It has been a good tool to open doors to large accounts. It creates brand acceptance as the effect percolates down,” says S Rajendran, general manager for marketing at Acer India.

Chennai-based garment exporter Linear Fashions needs to send sketches to its Italian counterpart, who in turn reviews and annotates them. The Acer TravelMate C100 has proved to be just what it needs. Similarly, at L&T Constructions, project engineers sketch on the Tablet PC and send the drawing to the head office, which gets back with recommendations, thus cutting out the paperwork.

Coming soon—what the future holds
“In 18 to 24 months most or all notebooks will offer Tablet functionality. By H2 2003, high-end notebooks from Acer (the 630 series at present) will offer Tablet as a standard feature,” says Acer’s Rajendran.

The immediate conversion is expected to be of 20 percent of the ultraportable market, which itself accounts for 20 percent of the notebook market. In Q2 2003, Acer will switch to Intel’s Banias platform. Down the line, by 2004, digitiser LCD panel prices should drop. “People are talking about bringing down the price below a lakh of rupees,” says Karthik Padmanabhan, marketing manager at Microsoft India, adding, “A killer application is needed to drive volumes.” The hunt is on.

Karthik Padmanabhan says talks are on to bring down the price of the Tablet PC to below Rs 1 lakh

Applications ...the lifeblood of the Tablet PC
Internationally there are a few interesting third-party applications. Notable ones include the FranklinCovey TabletPlanner that lets you handwrite appointments, tasks, and notes and Zinio Reader that lets you read popular magazines on the Tablet PC. Early applications in India include V-Cops (Versatile Computerised Operations for police services) from CMC, a tool for enhancing performance of state police units, where Tablet PCs are being used to provide mobility and the FIR lodging module is getting ink enabled; Schools Management from Pacsoft Solutions; Personal Investment Manager from TCS, targeted at high net worth individuals, businessmen, salaried individuals with an investment portfolio of Rs 10 lakh and above; Load & Trim sheet for the aviation sector from Sankhya; SimpleRM from Trivium India, the opportunities screen and contacts screen interfaces will be updateable by salespeople using the Tablet; Smart Doc from Sun Software Solutions, a patient management system lets doctors write surgical and investigation reports, certificates, reference letters and accounts and two financial applications—ODIN from Financial Technologies, a trading front-end application whose trading terminal order placement module is getting digital ink enabled and Quaestor, Cash Flow and Cross Selling Wizard from Logica.

It’s only Mark I, give Tablets a chance
The Tablet PC in its present form is a version 1 product. As such it has rough edges. Reviewers have highlighted weaknesses such as the lack of a show desktop button. That said, these are minor points that can easily be fixed. In the long term, the Tablet’s success will depend on the ability of notebook vendors and Microsoft to bring prices down. In any case, expect most high-end notebooks to ship with Tablet functionality by the end of this year.