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A Small History of Tablet Computing

The iPad is by no means the first attempt to create a tablet computer, by either Apple or other vendors. In all likelihood, though, this one is probably going to be the first one that succeeds in being commercially viable and popular.

Let's go back in time to 1983 where a young Steve Jobs commissioned Frog Design to create the "Bashful." It was a prototype tablet that was developed alongside the Apple II. It included a stylus for input, a keyboard and an attachable floppy disk drive. It even included an attachment for a phone. This tablet never became commercially available (but then Apple rejects many many prototypes).

In 1991, Microsoft built "pen extensions" into Windows 3.1. At this time, a touch-sensitive device became known as a pen computer. The concept was geared toward handwriting recognition and tapping a stylus on the screen. Microsoft predicted that all computers would incorporate the technology within a few years. IBM, Samsung, Fujitsu and Toshiba all released pen computers at the time. Unfortunately, the devices sold poorly and the vendors lost tens of millions of dollars.

In 1991 the Apple Newton also entered development. As many of our customers will remember, the Newton emerged as a PDA, however the original concept actually consisted of a much larger screen with more sophisticated sketching capabilities. Perhaps observing the failure of the pen computer, the Newton emerged in a smaller, simpler form.

In 2001, Bill Gates and Microsoft tried again. This time they re-dubbed the technology as being the "Tablet PC." This time the pen extensions were embedded into Windows XP and many of the screens swivelled round to fold down on top of a keyboard base (as a kind of laptop/touch hybrid). Again, Bill Gates announced "Within five years, I predict it will be the most popular form of PC sold in America." While this never eventuated, versions of Tablet PCs have dribbled out over the last decade to a mildly-enthused niche market.

Ten years later it is clear that touch computing and tablets really are about to take off. You can expect that the success of Apple's iPad will spawn a whole host of copies and adaptations by many of the major tech companies. Whether they are able to develop an attractive, usable software interface is another matter.