I was wrong. The local Cosco does have the Averatec C3500 Tablet PC on display after all. This weekend it was proudly displayed on the slanted peg board with the other notebooks. It’s at a highly visible location at the end of an aisle just as you walk into the store. Not bad.
On the downside, the C3500 is strapped down to the peg board like the other notebooks. Because of the fixturing you can’t even twist the display. Oh well. I imagine someone that buys one will know what they are looking for.
The Averatec was turned off when I got there. Not sure if that’s the case all the time or not. As you might guess, the Tablet pen was gone so it would be a limited experience anyway.
In the 30 minutes I was standing around and watching, quite a few people checked out the notebooks. To me it looked like they were price shopping. One person flagged down a Cosco employee and asked a handful of questions about an HP notebook. It was the least expensive of all the computers.
During this time I took the liberty of switching on the Tablet and launching the built in Windows Journal video. At least this way people could see some handwriting on the display.
Quite nicely the Averatec has a sticker on the bottom right of the case that spells out how a Tablet PC can be used. I’m not sure if it is visible enough, but it’s a great way to showcase Tablet uses.
As I was standing there checking out the C3500 I was wondering if there could be a better way to showcase the Tablet. What would be great is a way to illustrate the mobility of the Tablet and get the idea across that you can use it standing up, that you’ll want to hold it in your hand, and that it’s cool and different. After a minute or two of “Dr. Seus” creativity I came up with this contraption. Yeah, I don’t think I have a future in retail design, either 🙂 But it’s tough to come up with a good way to showcase a Tablet PC and still keep it secure enough that it doesn’t get stolen, dropped or broken.