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The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

The shape of things not

4 comments on The shape of things not

The shape of things not to come
: Mark my words: The tablet will not take over the PC world. Read the NY Times today (can’t get to the link right now but Gizmodo has it) and you’ll find a solution looking for a problem. It’s not a good way to read a newspaper; paper is (and the newspaper industry learned that the hard way, spending a fortune in “labs”). It’s not a good way to create information. It will have a limited audience for whom it works well. Limited.

All the attention it is getting is about (a) Microsoft marketing and its hope to build a new business line and (b) a hunger for new gadgets that has not been sated in too long.

4 responses to “The shape of things not”

  1. Cowboy X Avatar
    Cowboy X

    I disagree. I think there’s a nitch for tablets, handheld computers roughly the size of trade paperbacks that can swing web browsing, e-mail and few more functions (basically ubiquitous Internet), for users who don’t want to squint into tiny little PDA screens. This’ll mop up the e-book market too. But the Windows Tablet PCs aren’t going to meet this, because they’re overpowered, oversized and overpriced.

  2. Steve Gigl Avatar
    Steve Gigl

    I agree and disagree; this initial form of the tablet PC will probably fail, but I see future versions taking over notebooks in less than a decade, dependent on whether the displays can be made more paper-like.
    But then again, I really want one of these (2nd generation at earliest), so I’m not exactly an impartial observer!

  3. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    Niche is right.

  4. Scott Chaffin Avatar
    Scott Chaffin

    Hush up, now, Jarvis! We need something to fire up this crap industry! If it’s Tablets, I’ll take it!
    Actually, I think that you’re misunderstanding the Tablet space. Laptops are a HUGE pain in the ass for wandering down to Starbucks or taking a meeting. Slow start, bulky, intrusive, heavy, HEAVY, and did I say HEAVY? I’m on the road again tonight, and I hate having this IBM ThinkPad laptop. If it had a) handwriting recognition and b) an ethernet jack, my load would be at least 10 pounds lighter. Give me a fold-up keyboard and I would be a maniac.
    But then I’m a black-belt first-adopter geek. And I whine like a baby when V2 comes out.
    Glad you got some comments, too…