There has been a lot of traffic lately on the death of or the success of the TabletPC (depending on who you ask). I don't think that TabletPC has been as successful as Microsoft and the hardware vendors would like. I think there are two basic reasons for this, one can be fixed immediately and one will take a little longer. First the long term problem, cost. A TabletPC will be nore expensive then a comparable standard laptop. The main reason is the display and digitizer. The technology is still growing. Like everything else it will catch up and make the cost difference minimal. It has actually shrunk substantially since the first TabletPC rolled off the line.
The other problem is with Microsoft itself. They have made it difficult for the average developer to write applications for the TabletPC. I don't mean the API, it's actually pretty good. I mean that you cannot get your hands on a copy of TabletPC os without shelling out the dolloars for MSDN subscription. TabletPCs were not meant to develop on. Main reason is related to problem one above, screen size. Most TabletPC run at 1024 x 768. The Toshiba convertable is the only one that I know of that will run at higher resolutions (one reason I use one). You can load up the TabletPC SDK and do most of what you would want to, but not quite all of it. You still need TabletPC os for recoginition for example. Why not just ditch TabletPC os as a separate SKU and just include the functionality in XP. Rumor has it that this will happen in Longhorn, but by that time it may be to late. Unless mainstream software is developed that takes advantage of TabletPC it will be nothing more then a platform for vertical software. In order for mainstream software to be built, the developer community needs access to the complete TabletPC experience. Currently you almost **have** to have a TabletPC to do serious development. If a developer could just install a $75.00 Wacom tablet to their desktop and have ALL of the stuff, then you will see the software appear. They should not be forced to drop another $1000.00 on MSDN just to get the goods.