Tablet PC platform in Trouble?

BetaNews | at | by Mike

Once heralded by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates as the future of laptop computing, Tablet PCs now appear to be a niche market that has slim prospects for significant growth even through the end of the decade.Forecasts at the time of the Windows XP Tablet Edition launch expected sales to hit 5 million in 2005, 9 million in 2006, and 14 million by 2007. However, sales so far this year are not even in line to hit one million.

Roger Kay, founder of Endpoint Technologies Associates and an IDC analyst, says indications are that sales of tablets will only amount to about 3.5 million by 2009.