There's been some buzz on the internet regarding the suggestion that Microsoft may be working on a hybrid Tablet PC/ebook system which would in effect be a mini-Tablet PC, i.e. somewhere between an iPaq and an existing Tablet PC. An interesting proposition if it shares the benefits of an iPaq such as being light, small and battery efficient which if it's running an OS like XP is hard to imagine. It may be a bit more like the [
OQO device.
Here's one of the stories from
Microsoft-Watch.com
Tablet PC: The Next Generation?
By Mary Jo Foley
Could the hottest new Tablet form factor end up being a mini Tablet/eBook hybrid? Microsoft seems to be betting on it.
First it was the slate. Then it was the PC-Tablet convertible. Now it's a mini-Tablet that can do everything that a traditional Tablet PC can do, plus store electronic books, that could end up as the new gadget on which Microsoft is betting to further Tablet PC momentum.
A prototype of a new device — described by sources as a type of hybrid Tablet PC/eBook — has been making its way around the Microsoft Redmond campus, according to sources. The mini-Tablet, which measures about six inches by eight inches and features a digitizer, is just one of a number of new Tablet form factors expected to debut in the coming months.
Microsoft introduced the Tablet PC concept in 2000. The first units running the Tablet-PC-specific variant of Windows XP began shipping in 2002. According to Microsoft, the millionth Tablet PC was sold in February, 2005.
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