A Concise History and Evolution of Tablet PCs

4 20 PM History & Evolution TABLET PCs A CONCISE WHAT IS A CABLEC PC? A tablet PC is generally defined as a portable computer larger than a mobile phone with a flat touchscreen as its dominant external feature. The touchscreen responds to a stylus or fingers or it can be operated by attaching a keyboard. 1888: ROOTS Teleautograph: In 1888, Elisha Gray was granted a patent for an electrical device that could capture handwriting L. Star Trek crew members were seen carrying 1950 to 1980: CAKING SHAPE electronic clipboards that were operated with a stylus. Anepic drama of adventure and exploration 2001:A Space Odyssey showcased a flat screen tablet capable of playing broadcasted video wirelessly. 2001:aspace odyssey The Styalator and the RAND tablet were introduced to the public in the early 1960s. Both were equipped with software that allowed real time recognition of handwritten text written on the slate using a specialized pen. In 1968, Alan Kay came up with the Dynabook, which is now acknowledged as the blueprint for many mobile computing devices like the laptop and the tablet PC. He envisioned it as an educational device children could use. However, the Dynabook remained in the conceptual stage because the technology needed to build it did not exist at the time. In September of 1989, the first commercially available portable tablet PC was launched. Called the GRIDPAD, it had a fax/modem card, an internal floppy drive, a three-hour battery life, a backlit 10-inch grayscale screen that accepted stylus input, and it ran on MS-DOS. 1990:: RISE OF CHE PDAS GO Corporation, which developed the PenPoint OS, was later acquired by AT&T. This operating system powered the AT&T EO Personal Various companies started developing their own versions of portable computer devices. The 1990s did not directly influence the develop- ment of tablet PCs, but instead saw the growth and development of its smaller cousin, the PDA or personal digital assistant. Communicator. Launched in 1993, AT&T's PDA device was capable of sending fax and email CORP. and was marketed to business executives with a free AT&T sub- scription. It was discontinued because of the unappealing $2,500 price tag. Microsoft also came up with its own OS for PDAS, seeing the PenPoint OS as a threat to their Windows-powered PCs. The company came up with Pen Extensions for Windows 3.1 and launched it as Windows for Pen Computing. Apple also took a chance on the PDA market with the development of the Apple Newton MessagePad in 1993. In fact, it was Apple CEO John Sculley coined the phrase Personal Digital Assistant to describe their device. The Newton was originally designed to be as large as the GRIDPad. Steve Jobs discontinued the device upon his return to Apple in 1997. The Palm Pilot line of PDAS had more success compared to AT&T's EO and Apple's Newton. Cheaper and smaller than the EO and Newton, the Palm Pilot Palm Pilot PDAS enjoyed a good run palm until smartphones such as the BlackBerry entered the market. Because smartphones offered functions of both a PDA and a phone, PDAS unfortunately became redundant. boasted many features that made it more appealing to consumers. 2000: Toblet PC IS SUPER COOL BIRCH OF CHE MODERN CABLETS Microsoft made a bold prediction of the future of the tablet PC as early as 2001 when Though the development of tablet PCs seemed to take a break during the 1990s to make way for the PDAS, it did not necessarily mean that the portable tablet PC took a step backward. In fact, the tablet industry ben- efited from the technology used in the development and subsequent improvement of PDAS and smart- phones. Bill Gates announced the launch of the Windows XP Tablet Edition. Windows XP tablets promised all the features and functions found in Windows to be available on a touchscreen interface. A company called Axiotron launched a modification of the MacBook during the 2007 Macworld event, calling the converted device the "Modbook." Converting the powerful MacBook to a tablet resulted in a device that consumed a lot of power. Furthermore, the process was very expensive for consumers. In 2003, Apple got deeply involved in the development of multi-touch technology. However, it did not immediately make its way into the tablet market. Instead, the company used the technology it developed for its smartphone, the iPhone and eventually its enhanced music player, the iPod Touch. 2010: CHE CABLET PC AS WE KNOW IC Apple took years to come up with an offering in the tablet PC market. At the launch of its initial model in 2010, the iPad ran on iOS, had a 9.7-inch screen, was equipped with a 1GHZ A4 processor, and had a battery life of 10 hours. iPad owners also had access to an application library/store with thousands of apps to choose from. These features and possibilities made the iPad very popular from the start. While Apple suddenly went aggressive with their plans for a tablet PC, other tablet makers sought to challenge their emerging and eventual dominance in the tablet market right from the start. Also launched in 2010 were the Slate 500 from HP, the QuadPad 3G Plus from Quaduro Systems, and the Galaxy Tab from Samsung. JULY 20 The succeeding years saw more entrants in the market such as Motorola's Xoom, HP's TouchPad, RIM's BlackBerry Playbook, Amazon's Kindle Fire, and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet. Ranging from 7 to 10 inches, these tablets offered features similar to those of the iPad. Some even had features lacking in the iPad, such as a USB port and a micro-SD slot. Samsung's Galaxy tablets were initially the closest contenders to shake the iPad from the top spot. However, other players have also created their own niche in the market, with Google's Nexus and Microsoft's Surface tablets getting a lot of attention. Both tablets boast of features that are at par, if not better than the iPad. www.facebook.com/eCycleBestOfficial :eCycle Best f Like Us 84 Coney Island Drive Sparks, NV 89431 www.eCycleBest.com Follow Us www.twitter.com/eCycleBest1 VIE