A Brief History of the Tablet PC

Computer technology has a long and colorful history. New innovations don’t come along by the year, they come along by the month, sometimes even the week. Around 1998, a series of companies began toying with the idea of all of the power of a personal computer put into a thin, portable machine. On top of this, a responsive touchscreen would be necessary to navigate through software and programs. Birthed from these ideas, which had been in development for over 40 years, came the tablet PC.

Tablet PC, The Early Days

The concept of the tablet PC goes back much earlier than the 1990′s. All the way back into the 1960′s, computer software and hardware developers were examining different ideas to input information into the fledgling computers that were being developed. The first two interfaces were named the Styalator and the RAND tablet. These each required a custom made tablet and pen to navigate the computer and input information. By the end of the 1960′s the first fully functional Dynabook was being developed by Alan Kay but it would never get past the alpha stages of development.

By the 1980′s companies were looking to change out traditional keyboards for pad style inputs. Pencept Inc. was at the forefront of this research, but the size of their machines and lack of processing power meant that it would take much more time and development before these computers would come to resemble the tablet PCs that are seen today.

Early tablet PCs had optical drives and a stylus

The Middle Years Of the Tablet

The trial and error process of the tablet PCs would lead into a few functional versions by the 1990′s. Palm Pilots and other PDA’s found their way into the consumer market with varying degrees of success. The programming necessary for computer software to recognize handwriting had finally begun to take shape as well. The computing power of microchips were also hitting their stride and handheld tablet-style computers could finally be made both practical and affordable for the average consumer.

The Tablet PC In The 21st Century

In 2001, Bill Gates would get on stage at the Comdex trade show and announce the Windows XP Tablet Edition. This would be the first time that the phrase ‘tablet PC’ would be used in mainstream marketing. Flat screen technology would aid in developing displays that could produce the same quality as desktop computers while the huge jumps in microchips would enable tablet PCs to rival their larger sisters. Although tablet PCs became a moderate success, they were largely restricted to the business market.

iPad 2, the tablet of 2011

Everything changed in April 2010 when Apple released the iPad, advertised as the best tablet pc. Having already taken the world by storm with the iPhone, Apple seemed determined to crack the consumer tablet market where Microsoft and others had largely failed. Despite the high price tag, the iPad succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations; the combination of the proven iOS with a bigger, reader-friendly screen was an instant hit among the fanboys and regular users alike. Other companies have started to follow in Apple’s footsteps using the Android OS, and current tablets have become one of the largest sellers in the technology sector.

Britney Baker reviews prepaid cellphones for PrepaidCellphones.net. Her latest review looked at Tracfone.