History tells us that in spite of all the marketing $s spent, the touch formula hasn't worked in the PC industry so far - tablet PCs haven't justified the hype the created. With Windows 7 launch just around the corner (Oct 22), the promise of touch is back again. Does this mean we've unearthed the Holy Grail of touch computing through Windows 7 - some experts certainly believe so. Let's examine the landscape and see if this makes sense at all.
For starters, Windows 7 has been re-designed by Microsoft to support touch-based gestures (multi-touch included) out-of-the-box, a capability lacking in its previous generation operating systems. The new OS is said to support touch in Windows-based applications by enhancing the user interface for touch-friendly gestures (i.e. larger icons). So far so good. However, here's where the problem lies. Simply offering a multi-touch tablet with Windows 7 aboard doesn't ensure market success. Case in point - Apple and its iPhone.
Before Apple introduced the iPhone, few knew the capacity touchscreen. Within 6 months of the launch of the iPhone, the entire handset industry started making a beeline for this technology, porting it on their phones and hoping they'd sell well. The formula was simple and should have worked; just that it didn't. Competition realized that the killer app in the iPhone wasn't just its capacitive touchscreen. Word on the street is that Apple spent close to $250M behind the software development for the iPhone. The designers at Apple figured out that software will be equally important as hardware when it comes to differentiating their product offering in the market that is flooded with 'me-too' devices. As technology advances, more and more players tend to exhibit a certain degree of homogeneity in hardware.
Coming back to the PC industry, similar efforts are needed from the PC vendors. The trend of customized touch software is on the rise. Asus tried a thing or two with its TouchGate user interface on its Eee PC T901 tablet. Lenovo recently introduced a similar icon-based multi-touch interface called SimpleTap that offers users quick access to the popular ThinkVantage suite of applications. But perhaps the most significant step in this direction was taken by HP in 2008 when they introduced their TouchSmart AiO PC (all in one). HP's homegrown user interface running on top of a traditional Microsoft OS let users interact with their PC entirely through the tip of their fingers - something that no one in the industry had managed to accomplish so far.
This brings me to the closing argument - existence of 3rd party applications. Lack of a contemporary success story means I need to quote the iPhone example again. Research suggests one of the main reasons why people prefer iPhone over other better featured smartphones is the abundance of tens of thousands of 3rd party applications which let users do a lot more with their expensive smartphone investment. Till very recently, none of the smartphone vendors let you do that. And having seen this trend, most handset vendors / telco operators today are running around to make their own version of the App Store.
I thought HP had a significant head start in this aspect with its TouchSmart user interface, almost to the extent of 18 months. Imagine the tremendous mindshare which HP would've garnered in the market had they developed their own application ecosystem aided by developers. However, the lack of enough applications to take advantage of this feature ensured that the market adoption for the PC was limited to niche audience. To replicate iPhone-like success in the PC industry, it's imperative that we have more 3rd party development and a more open approach rather than the traditional 'walled garden' approach. Touchscreen panels are expensive, and users will need a strong reason to justify the additional cost involved in a tablet PC.
Apple is widely tipped to launch its tablet early next year, and if it manages to bring the same user friendly interface found on the iPhone to its tablet, this will represent a paradigm shift in the way we interact with our PCs. A quick vote around you will tell you Apple will do exactly the same. An encore of iPhone success is almost guaranteed. Unless PC vendors come up with a strong justification for consumers to buy touchscreen platforms with a 3rd party application ecosystem and unique user interface, there's no touchdown for the PC industry. Apple's threat looms at large.
Image courtesy: http://bindapple.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/applepreparesfortouchscreenproducts.jpg
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