What Is The History Behind Tablets?

A tablet personal computer is essentially a small laptop computer. It has all of the important functional features of a normal size laptop and some that are unique. The tablet is equipped with a rotatable touch screen, has an extra input device and runs a standard PC operating system like Linux or Windows. Today, the term tablet is also used to refer to computer-type devices operated mainly by a touch screen but not designed for running regular PC operating systems or applications.

The evolution of the tablet computerized device has been rapid in the past ten years. In 2001, Microsoft's Bill Gates demonstrated the first prototype of a Tablet PC in public and it was released nationally by 2002, as the Microsoft Tablet PC. The innovations by many companies quickly followed. In 2003, Fingerworks' touch technology and touch gestures were eventually used in the Apple iPhone. In 2005, Nokia launched the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. Samsung launched their offering in 2006. 2007 was a great year for new developments: a tablet computer based on Mac hardware and Mac OS X is released at Macworld by Axiotron called the Modbook; Apple launches the iPod touch, an MP3 player with WiFi; and Amazon liberates the Amazon Kindle.

The tablet concept actually began many years earlier. In his article 'A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages', Alan Kay was the first person to conceptualize the concept of a table computer. He called it the Dynabook. It was the late 1960's, early 1970's and the Dynabook was to be a tablet style computer with the purpose of learning and collecting information. Kay hypothesized that these specially sized computers would be able to connect wirelessly to centralized information storage. The Dynabook was about the size of a notepad, with a screen at the top and a hardware keyboard at the bottom. It was envision that it would also play audio files, record voice, and more.

Communication Intelligence Corporation created the Handwriter recognition system in the 1980s. This was an early pen computer system built around handwriting recognition. It was thought that it might eventually replace conventional computers that had keyboards. In September of 1989, the first tablet-type portable computer available commercially was the GriDPad from GRiD Systems. Its operating system was based on MS-DOS. In 1991, Microsoft announced Pen Extensions for Windows 3.1 and called them Windows for Pen Computing. One year later, GO Corporation released PenPoint, Lexicus released a handwriting recognition system, and Microsoft released Windows for Pen Computing. Between 1992 and 1994, EO, NCR, Samsung, Dauphin, Fujitsu, TelePad, Compaq, Toshiba, and IBM released hardware to run Windows for Pen Computing or PenPoint.

Eventually all the progressions lead to the advancement of a wide selection in the tablet technology that we are able to enjoy today. In 2010 iPad was unveiled by Apple, Samsung released the Galaxy Tab, running Google Android and Dell announced the Inspiron Duo A flip screen Netbook and Tablet PC hybrid. HP released the Slate 500, which is capable of running a full-version of Windows 7. Already this year, RIM released the BlackBerry Playbook which runs BlackBerry Tablet OS. Dell showcased the Streak 7 tablet and announces that they are working on the 10 inch Streak 10. Also, Apple released the iPad 2, Toshiba launched the Toshiba Tablet, a 10 inch tablet, and Samsung releases Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9, the world's thinnest tablets. In the near future, maybe this Christmas, it is expected that both larger and smaller tablets, as well as faster, thinner, and higher resolution tablets, will be introduced to consumers.