Scribble your thoughts, fire an email

BANGALORE: Microsoft is out torevolutionise computing. Yet again. This time with the Tablet PC.Theproduct will be launched globally by Bill Gates at New York''s Times Square onNovember 7, with the initial roll-out across 12 countries including India. TheTimes of India got a sneak preview of the prototype before it was shipped to SriLanka on Thursday.So what''s the breakthrough technology?The TabletPC has a digital pen, enabling users to capture their thoughts on the screen inrich digital ink and preserve notes in their own handwriting. The luxury is thatthis can be converted to typed text. You scribble an email in your handwritingand ensure that it reaches the recipient in typed text format. In addition,there''s a voice-to-text interface.``The Tablet PC is a logical evolutionfrom the laptop. We don''t want it to remain just a pretty-looking toy. We areconfident that the Tablet PC will be relevant to a cross-section ofprofessionals: doctors, lawyers, engineers, government officials, etc. ByNovember-end, the Indian consumer can buy the Tablet PC off the shelves,'''' saysKarthik Padmanabhan, senior marketing manager, Microsoft.The price,depending on the brand, could range between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 2lakh.After a decade of research, Microsoft perfected the technology ofdigital ink and speech interface. The company subsequently migrated thistechnology to hardware vendors like Acer, Fujitsu and Sony to let them developtheir own variants of the Tablet PC. Since all Tablet PCs hitting the marketwill be equipped with a customised version of Windows XP, Microsoft will end upbinding a large mass of consumers to its applications.``We are workingwith the developer community and independent software vendors to support digitalink and voice technologies. We will soon be launching a marketing blitz,'''' saysPadmanabhan.Since the early ''70s, computer researchers have talked aboutthe utility of a Tablet PC but failed to produce a mass-market device due to arange of complexities.However, Microsoft believes that by the end of 2003,about one-third to one-half of the ultraportable laptop market will move to theTablet PC.In the Indian scenario, where the market share of the notebookconstitutes less than 3 per cent, and in a situation where the consumer is stillwary of hi-tech novelties, pushing the Tablet PC will certainly not beeasy.Even for Microsoft.