Although this year is still young it has all the looks to become the year of the tablet computers. The Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas is filled with news about upcoming tablet devices. Steve Ballmer kicked-off the show by introducing several models with multi-touch capabilities. Brands like HP, Archos, Pegatron, Dell, Freescale and Compal all had their own definition of a tablet computer.
The devices introduced at CES all have similar functionality. All have multi-touch screens, a build-in webcam and a relatively powerful processor. Still the audience is a little disappointed. Why? Because so far there’s no news about the Courier, which seemed it could have been the big surprise. A much heard comment is that all the tablets run an unadapted version of Windows 7 or Android. Even more disappointing is the fact that all these products seem to be in a concept stage. No computer developer dares to set a launch date or name a price.
I first thought Apple would be too late with introducing a tablet (later this month), but with all this disappointment at CES I now think Apple will be the big surprise of 2010. At least they know how to introduce a new product on the market with their stylish events. And at least they dare to name a price and tell the world when everybody can buy the device.
