Hello Tablet Computers, Goodbye Laptops?

Tablet computers are something that have been around for about two decades.  Our recollection of most have, for the most part, been failures.  The tablet was a product that seemed quite convenient, but ended up falling short in terms of: graphics, size, speed, and cost was too high.  But, in today's society, as it quickly becomes more technologically savvy by the day, bloggers seem to be populating the Internet more than anyone, and the iPhone is becoming a necessity, is it possible for tablet computers to be the next big thing?

Bill Gates predicted in 2001 that tablet computers would hit the market big within five years, and be the most popular PC in America.  Most tablet computers that Windows sells every year are sold to business fields such as: healthcare and financial services.

Although, Gates' prediction for the 2006 'tablet PC bang' failed, it might not be too far of a stretch to say that it could be the most popular PC in 2010 or 2011.  At the time of Gates' prediction production seemed to have a dream for the tablet PC to do much more than their hardware actually had the capability of doing.  But, in today's iPhone populated world, a touchscreen tablet computer is certainly not out of the question.  

The iPhone's popularity has proved that technology has and will readily continue to advance at a fast rate.  Today's technology cannot only link us to the internet from the phone in our pocket, but it can also provide us with a GPS signal, allow us to order pizza from the click of an app, and provide us with rich graphics accompanied by multimedia features.  With this being said, I think it is quite possible that a tablet computer could hit the market and be an immediate hit within the next couple years.  

Everyone's eye will probably on the product produced by Apple, seeing that they have the reputation of the most advanced technology to date.  All the problems that tablet PC's faced in the past could easily be avoided by our constantly improvement of quick, accessible and easy-to-operate options placed on today's hardware.  According to the New York Times Business Section:

In these visions, tablets will save the newspaper and book publishing industries, present another way to watch television and movies, play video games, and offer a visually rich way to enjoy the Web and the expanding world of mobile applications.

Like every invention prediction there are some skeptics.  A formal Apple executive gave his opinion about the tablet PC by stating, “I can imagine something like the iPhone with a much bigger screen being a gorgeous device with great capacity, but I don’t know where I would fit that into my life". This former executive also gave his predictions that Apple will have a tablet PC on the market within the next year.  He also went on to make a statement that his skepticism is a debate that has been taking place within the Apple industry for years.  

Laptops, blackberry's, and iPhones are great, but as American's, if something can be a bit smaller, quicker, and show us a better picture ... we normally seem to be quite interested!  I can't imagine with Apple's advanced technology that they would put out any product but the best.  If Apple places the tablet PC on the market I think it will be the new MacBook that we all just got used to using!  But, for now, I will type this blog on my Apple laptop computer that may very well be "oversized" within the next year or two!