DoTablets Face a Convertible Future?

ZDNet UK Insight writes about the potential market for tablet PCs and laptops with screens that can flip around. According to IDC, tablet PC shipments are expected to hit 9.7 million units by 2008, which is up 708 percent from the 1.2 million units expected to ship this year. Convertible notebooks are expected to make up the majority of those shipments. IDC also predicts more than 100 million notebooks will be sold by 2008.

IDC analyst Richard Shim said, "Manufacturers and consumers are still trying to figure out what to do with tablets and if they make sense for their daily lives."

Roger Kay at Endpoint Technologies Associates, who has questioned in the past whether there is a broader market for tablet PCs, noted there is usually a price premium in the range of $300 for a tablet PC over a typical notebook. He thought that as "manufacturers ramp up their tablet production during the next two years, that premium could drop to $75."