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Exclusive! Microsoft To Announce Tablet PC Before Apple!

Jan. 6, 2010 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

The tech industry is tripping over itself to promote Apple's maybe-it-is-maybe-it-isn't Tablet computing device, but Microsoft has their number: I can now reveal that Microsoft and its PC maker partners will announce and then deliver their own Tablet PC well before Apple. And I have an exclusive photo of a prototype of this unbelievable, trend-setting, and innovative product ...

... from 2001. The devices shipped in 2002. Almost eight years ago.

And if you’re really in the mood for some time travelling and reality checking, please go back and read my COMDEX Fall 2001 coverage, where I describe Microsoft’s entry into this market.

Gates started with the official name of the Tablet PC OS--Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. He introduced six more companies that will make Tablet PC hardware, bringing the total number of OEMs working on these devices to 13. Tablet PCs will ship in two basic forms--the standard slab design and a cool new convertible laptop that Acer pioneered. The Acer device is a laptop with a flip-around screen that we think will be popular with customers. When the Tablet PC ships next year, Microsoft will release an Office XP update that will add "pen-and-ink" capabilities to the suite, along with other Tablet-specific features.

Wow. So innovative. So ahead of its time. It’s amazing to me that the mainstream press doesn’t realize this all happened almost a decade ago.

If you've fallen for the tech press's free hype train for Apple, well, you're on notice. This is getting stupid.

Discuss this Article 53

Ocean
on Jan 6, 2010
That shirt blinds me to whatever else is going on in that picture.
Ocean
on Jan 6, 2010
"It’s amazing to me that the mainstream press doesn’t realize this all happened almost a decade ago." The MP3 player market was started up by someone else. The smartphone market was started up by someone else. But it's not until Apple comes along and points the way that the devices become *usefully mainstream*. No, Apple isn't starting the market. They're about to bring it to life -- something extremely more difficult to accomplish. And no one on the Windows side has done it yet.
Ocean
on Jan 6, 2010
"the tech press's free hype train for Apple" The tech press covers what their readers are interested in.
Mum
on Jan 6, 2010
Yeah, because Apple didn't release game-changing products in the areas of mp3 players and mobile phones years (or decades) after they'd been done by others.
Logjamming
on Jan 6, 2010
You're getting pathetic. Absolutely pathetic, Paul. Apple will once again revolutionize a dead market, like they did with the iPod and the iPhone. Microsoft will play catch up again with nicely rendered mockups and promises about a zillion features of which only 10 will make it in the final product. Oh, and this final product - will be years too late - will crash whenever it can - will have to be promoted by blogging nitwits who get payed by MS - will hopefully the last thing that Microsoft does. MS doesn't stand a chance. Face it.
de Silentio
on Jan 6, 2010
"No, Apple isn't starting the market. They're about to bring it to life -- something extremely more difficult to accomplish." Becareful about tooting Apples horn before you know what that horn sounds like.
beaker
on Jan 6, 2010
Paul - Aren't you just giving Apple more press by constantly mentioning them? You'll look silly again if they come out with something that is actually embraced. Not like that p.o.s. Compaq device in that picture.
Mum
on Jan 6, 2010
"The tech press covers what their readers are interested in." And what competitors, buyers and virtually everybody is interested in. A usable tablet computer is yet to appear. I hope someone puts it out soon, be it Apple or someone else.
Ocean
on Jan 6, 2010
Gruber has predicted what will happen with the tablet: "It will be defined by three or four of its built-in primary apps. -- Like all Apple products, The Tablet will do less than we expect but the things it does do, it will do insanely well. -- The same myopic feature-checklist-obsessed critics who dismissed the iPhone will focus on all that The Tablet doesn’t do and declare that this time, Apple really has ****** up but good." A former senior marketing manager for Apple says that this weeks WSJ story was a textbook Apple controlled leak: http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how_apple_does_controlled_leaks/
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jan 6, 2010
And don't forget that there have been Tablet PCs running on Windows starting with Windows for Pen Computing back in1992. (based on Windows 3.11) so Microsoft's got about 18 years experience in Windows based tablets. And, of course, there were Tablet personal computers since GRiD started shipping the GRiDPad tablet PC (MS-DOS based) over twenty years ago (1989).
Ocean
on Jan 6, 2010
Being first doesn't mean anything at all Mike Galos.
CommanderTPlak
on Jan 6, 2010
This *is* getting stupid. I supported several of those underpowered, cr@pware-infested tablets back in the day. They'd take ten minutes to boot, load up 90+ processes at startup, and were generally useless. Granted, MS isn't necessarily to blame for that- the OEMs were the ones to cram most of that on. But still, the overall tablet experience was dreadful. The doctors at the medical center I supported bought them because they looked cool and were portable, but then trashed them within weeks- they didn't have time to wait around for the things to catch up with them. Most of them wound up buying PowerBooks.
Keleko
on Jan 6, 2010
How long have we seen "tablet" devices on various SF shows, like Star Trek? At some point we'll have them be common devices. Just like Windows Mobile, MS and the PC market has had plenty of time to make a tablet that will revolutionize the industry. Just like Windows Mobile, they have not done so yet. Apple has a history of capturing a market with no clear leader and becoming that leader. I think the problem with the PC industry is that all they do is take the keyboard away from a laptop, add a touchscreen, and call it done. Maybe running Windows on it is the wrong answer. Windows is meant to be used with a keyboard and a mouse, and making it touchscreen only isn't the best way to use it. Windows Mobile is even worse, given the shape it is in now. The market needs something different than just a quirky laptop to make it take off. We'll see if Apple can produce that device.
Mark KB
on Jan 6, 2010
@Ocean: The current Tablet PCs are perfectly usable. The problem is that the lay people at the moment don't *care* to use them - whether or not it's because they don't have flashy animated UIs or because they're are too complex for them is beside the point. The other problem, as it always has been, is advertising - I've certainly never seen Tablet PCs advertised on the telly.
Ocean
on Jan 6, 2010
"I think the problem with the PC industry is that all they do is take the keyboard away from a laptop, add a touchscreen, and call it done." They start with the technology and work backwards. Apple perhaps does it differently.
Ocean
on Jan 6, 2010
"The current Tablet PCs are perfectly usable." I suspect that within 30 days we'll consider that statement the same way we would consider the statement that smartphones before Android and the iPhone were perfectly usable.
g6672D
on Jan 6, 2010
Apple could easily stuff up a tablet PC. For example, by giving them low-power components like the Macbook Air. Or not providing an adequate keyboard replacement. Or failing to capitalize on the touchscreen, leaving it a rarely useful feature. Still, it's a product to watch if it ever comes out.
Ocean
on Jan 6, 2010
"I've certainly never seen Tablet PCs advertised on the telly." My boss had one. Everyone looked at it with interest when he started using it in meetings and the like, but no one else ever asked for one. We were ok with our plain vanilla Dell laptops.
lehenbauer
on Jan 6, 2010
I guess Apple overlooked that Compaq tablet. Boy is their face red.
Dipsh t Admin
on Jan 6, 2010
"Apple will once again revolutionize a dead market, like they did with the iPod and the iPhone." The phone market was dead? That's news to me, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, RIM... "Microsoft will play catch up again with nicely rendered mockups and promises about a zillion features of which only 10 will make it in the final product. Oh, and this final product - will be years too late" Paul's point is that is such a device has been around for a while, so it won't be years too late. Now, we could argue that pre Windows 7, the touch features weren't fully fleshed out, but with the current crop of hardware and software, the truth is that such devices in a wide variety of form factors and price points are available, today. "- will crash whenever it can" You mean like SL deleting user data? Wink, wink. No, but seriously, how many MS products have you used recently? Windows 7 is rock solid, and really, so was Vista, and even XP. And before you say WinMo, hey, I, and everyone else agrees with you. "- will hopefully the last thing that Microsoft does. MS doesn't stand a chance. Face it." Seriously, you actually think that MS is going to disappear anytime soon? That Steve Jobs brand Kool-Aid must be really strong. What did you double up on the packets?
shark47
on Jan 6, 2010
I'm sure a lot of people will buy the Apple slate or whatever, but that doesn't mean it will be better than existing tablet PCs. Without a keyboard, it'll be a giant smartphone, good for certain stuff like media, internet, and bad for others like writing documents. In short, it'll be this: https://thejoojoo.com/
chipwinter
on Jan 6, 2010
Microsoft: We were the first to invent wheels for cars! Apple: We made the wheels round instead of square. Microsoft: But we were still first!
Keleko
on Jan 6, 2010
@Ocean: I still consider the old Palm OS Treos more usable than even current Windows Mobile devices. Still, most non-techie people I know that had one didn't even know you could buy and put new applications on the old Palm OS. The iPhone certainly revolutionized that part of the smart phone.
Keleko
on Jan 6, 2010
This video does a good job of showing what revolutionary tablet device could be like. http://www.vimeo.com/8217311
DarkSages
on Jan 6, 2010
Ok people this is getting stupid why are we talking about something that is not out yet. Second ok if it is a tablet or big iPhone or what ever I am sorry to say this but touch keyboards suck. Handwrting recnition to me has allways been better or speech to text. All of you are talking about old tablets huh windows 7 has tablet support and multitouch. Have anyone use one? Apple has had support for third party devices. Dude I think I remember using a touch screen back on a powermac 5400 or so. My point is this stop this BS, wait for the product to come out and then say wow or that sucks. The onlything I do agree with Paul on is that everyone seems to be waiting cash on hand for something that they know nothing of. Have you guys seen the episode of the simpsons? Anyways people stop getting boners just becuase you hear apple is coming out with something.
roteague
on Jan 6, 2010
"SacredCow said: Difference is Apple's tablet will actually be usable." Funny, my HP TouchPad table is quite usable ... Great text and voice recognition.
roteague
on Jan 6, 2010
Steve Ballmer reportedly set to preempt Apple tablet at CES Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is supposedly going to be showing off an HP tablet during his keynote at CES 2010. http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/01/steve-ballmer-reportedly-s...
roteague
on Jan 6, 2010
"Keleko said: @Ocean: I still consider the old Palm OS Treos more usable than even current Windows Mobile devices. " I don't, in fact, I know it isn't. I've programmed both Windows Mobile and Palm OS.
dallasmay
on Jan 6, 2010
OOh OOh! AND MS also shipped a smart phone a decade ahead of Apple. Doesn't mean that WinMo was any good. In fact it still sucks. 3 years after the first iPhone shipped, WinMo still sucks just like it did 10 years ago. Windows Tablet sucked then too. That's why no one bought one. Apple doesn't follow people into markets. Apple only enters a market if they can completely reinvent the market. Like Video on PMPs. The iPod with video wasn't the first PMP that could play video, but Apple reinvented that market by selling TV shows on iTunes. (A video playing PMP isn't any good unless you have video to play on it.) Lets wait and see what they offer before pretending like it's old news.
Waethorn
on Jan 6, 2010
Everybody is talking about who's first and such, but the big question is market. Apple has to offer such a device with an extremely attractive price to get off the ground. If it's expensive, which is very much a probability with such a large touchscreen, it won't be anything more than a niche product. They can't do a repeat of the MacBook Air, and the market certainly doesn't understand the Apple TV. The Apple tablet device fits somewhere in between those two though. FYI: They could totally botch it up by offering 3G exclusively from AT&T all over again. Meh. Here's hoping. Cheers! :P
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jan 6, 2010
Ocean "Being first doesn't mean anything at all " True enough. GRiD Systems, who were the first with tablet personal computers were known for their beautiful and beautifully made laptops that offered wonderful exotic metal cases with state of the art displays. Their products were more expensive than their competitors but their customers insisted they were worth it. They were one of the great innovators of the early personal computer days. The GRiD Compass pretty much defined the clamshell laptop design that we still use today and was used on the Space Shuttle back in 1985 when 20 pound luggables were still the common portable design. After a while they ended up becoming a boutique player that catered to a small niche market of only a few percent of the installed base and then their assets were bought out by Tandy.
gadfly10
on Jan 6, 2010
The WindowsTablet PC just wasn't sexy enough to achieve mainstream recognition. And seriously, were you really going to spend all that money trying to impress everyone with "OneNote"?
Dr. Daniel Jackson
on Jan 6, 2010
"How long have we seen "tablet" devices on various SF shows, like Star Trek? At some point we'll have them be common devices." I want one of those Dell Tablets that they use in Stargate Atlantis, if Rodney McCay can interface it with all kinds of alien technology, I bet I can hook it up to my TV and watch movies on my flat screen
gfryesc1
on Jan 6, 2010
and the newton predates this compaq tablet by a decade, what's the point? past failures aren't newsworthy, thurrott. Go back to call of duty and keep your irrational hatred of apple and its press coverage to yourself.
NoNameAtAll
on Jan 6, 2010
Apple's tablet IS just a rumor though. If, or when, it gets announced, then I'll be interested.
rr0de74@live.com
on Jan 6, 2010
Windows Mobile, or PocketPC was the first smartphone to use Exchange's native Active Sync, years before there was a iPhone. How is Windows Mobile doing now?
rr0de74@live.com
on Jan 6, 2010
Paul thanks for doing your part in building the Apple tablet hype!
Waethorn
on Jan 6, 2010
"How is Windows Mobile doing now?" 30 million devices strong, thanks for asking.
Waethorn
on Jan 6, 2010
"I want one of those Dell Tablets that they use in Stargate Atlantis, if Rodney McCay can interface it with all kinds of alien technology, I bet I can hook it up to my TV and watch movies on my flat screen" Haven't you perfected selective Ancient memory injection technology yet? "If, or when, it gets announced, then I'll be interested." The part that is going to make it rapidly uninteresting will be the Apple tax. I can only imagine that stockholders will drop shares if Apple can't wow them with a mass market price point. What'll be interesting is their share price after their little presentation. What's more funny is that if they actually don't announce something, it'll look badly on them, like they're recoiling from any potential embarrassment and going back to the drawing board, or that, they just didn't have a tablet on the go in the first place and can't compete.
Bodypaint
on Jan 6, 2010
Hey Mike, I remember this device, talk about forward thinking for the time.. and I don't just mean for their tablet. All of their devices were cutting edge.. so unfortunate they didn't succeed. As for the islate or whatever it may be called, if it is or isn't successful, who cares.. I won't buy one because I won't help feed the apple (proprietary) machine. http://www.ideo.com/work/item/palmpad
Ocean
on Jan 6, 2010
"the Apple tax" It's been proven that this doesn't exist.
Dr. Daniel Jackson
on Jan 6, 2010
"Haven't you perfected selective Ancient memory injection technology yet?" I have but it's not HD with no H.264 support, I'll have to stick to my tablet
DRWAM
on Jan 6, 2010
Tablets are for girls. CommanderTPlak was correct to note that we doctors won't tolerate a device that is not fast and reliable. There are lots of devices out there, each one with a different style or purpose. Tablets are low on our list of needs, but nurses may like them. And BTW, we are trying a couple of devices that Waethorn suggested. Once you understand what we want and need, the engineers should begin to work up, rather than create a device and shoehorn in necessary and useful functions, but we need to work together. If it's a great tool, price does not matter much for us [vendors gouge us with expensive software and support anyway, so what's a few more bucks?]
redunion1940
on Jan 6, 2010
The sad thing is that if apple doesn't show it at CES or this year the rumor mill will keep going on about the tablet, even though HP and others make great tablets for those who want to have hand writing recognition to work with there office products or maybe a specific program they have.
tayme
on Jan 6, 2010
I hope that Apple does call it the "iSlate"! Then all of the WinJihadists can have some fun calling it the "Is Late" like somebody mentioned on WiinInfo the other day! That should keep things interesting around here for at least another week or so! --tayme
panache1023
on Jan 6, 2010
Bodypaint, Just curious...you don't want to "feed the Apple (proprietary) machine". So instead, what would you rather do, feed the "Microsoft (proprietary) machine"? Your comment was probably one of the dumbest comments ever posted on this board.
roteague
on Jan 6, 2010
Moot question now .... Steve Ballmer shows us the new HP Slate ....
benjwah
on Jan 6, 2010
I think the press excitement is over the idea of a tablet that someone would actually want to use.
kent909
on Jan 6, 2010
I have always wanted a tablet. I just have never wanted to pay the premium price. These are the same people who make the cheap crap PC's that sell for $299. Put a hinge on the display and jack the price to $2000 and I say no thanks. It's no wonder the tablet never has gone anywhere. Apple's offering will not be anymore expensive than the tablets that exist or will soon exist. It just won't be a crappy cheap piece of plastic that costs $299 when you remove the pivot hinge.
robertsjoe
on Jan 6, 2010
What an ugly machine. Then again, that's Microsoft for you. Also, this is NOT a Microsoft tablet. They do not make it. They just provide the inferior OS for it.

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