Mary Jo Foley of Microsoft Watch wonders about the existence of a new Tablet form factor and whether it will end up being a mini Tablet/eBook hybrid.
She quotes Bill Gates from his interview February 16, 2005, with Peter Jennings:
“I am meeting with our tablet people about the idea of carrying text books around. They’ll have just a tablet device that they can call up the material on. That’s been a dream for a long time, we’re making progress there. So review of the software projects and encouraging them in terms of what they are doing well and telling them who else they need to work with.
She muses further, The education market has been one which Microsoft has done relatively little to tap, but which some industry watchers say could be one of the most promising for Tablet PC devices.
Yes, ebooks, etexts, Tablet PCs and their unknown iterations all seem a natural advance for students to use in and out of schools.
Thanks Rob for reminding me of Mary Jo’s important article.