According to a PC World article Microsoft wants to get rid of the #1 rejection for buying a Tablet PC – the expense — from prospective customers off the table by reducing the price by one quarter:

Acer, which has been selling Tablet PCs since the launch of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition in November 2002, later this year plans to join Toshiba and Averatec with a lower-cost Tablet PC, said Sumit Agnihotry, a product marketing manager at Acer America. “What we’re heading to in 2005 is to drive Tablet PC to an optimal price point, basically bring Tablet PC to a traditional notebook price, and we believe that is below $1500,” Agnihotry said. Acer’s new Tablet PC may be sold in retail stores, a first for Acer, he said.

The other complaint often heard is “only Microsoft employees are using Tablet PCs” which although has some ring of truth isn’t helped by this part of the article:

Newcomer Averatec is ahead of the curve. The San Diego company in mid-2004 shipped a $1350 Tablet PC that is sold in retail stores. At Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, several employees took a corporate credit card and bought all the Averatec machines on sale at a local Costco Wholesale store.

I guess the concept is that if Microsofties are using these, then so should others? Anyway, I’m not a Microsofty and I use a Tablet PC, so that isn’t a completely accurate argument. With the new pricing scheme Tablet PCs should only be $100-200 more than comparable laptops which is about the price of a writing tablet. I think that pricing — if it comes to pass — might attract some more users. Unfortunately, at least according to the article they are going to weigh like laptops which cuts down on the portability somewhat. Tablet PCs need to be light and easy to carry around.

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