History Of Tablets

History of tablet computers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The tablet computer and the associated special operating software is an example of pen computing technology, and thus the development of tablets has deep historical roots.
The depth of these roots can be quite surprising to people who are only familiar with current commercial products. For example, the first patent for anelectronic tablet used for handwriting was granted in 1888.[1] The first patent for a system that recognized handwritten characters by analyzing the handwriting motion was granted in 1915.[2] The first publicly-demonstrated system using a tablet and handwriting text recognition instead of a keyboard for working with a modern digital computer dates to 1956.[3]
In addition to many academic and researchsystems, there were several companies with commercial products in the 1980s: Pencept, Communications Intelligence Corporation, and Linus were among the best known of a crowded field. Later, GO Corp. brought out the PenPoint OS operating system for a tablet computer product: one of the patents from GO corporation was the subject of recent infringement lawsuit concerning the Tablet PC operatingsystem.[4]
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Early tablets
1.2 Microsoft Tablet PC
1.3 Apple's iPad
1.4 Non-Apple post-PC tablet computers
1.5 Post-PC tablet market share
2 Timeline
2.1 Before 1950
2.2 1950s
2.3 1960s
2.4 1980s
2.5 1990s
2.6 2010s
3 See also
4 References
[edit]History

[edit]Early tablets


The telautograph reproduced at a receiving station a drawing or signaturemade by the sender.
Main article: Early tablet computers
The tablet computer and the associated special operating software is an example of pen computing technology, and thus the development of tablets has deep historical roots. The depth of these roots can be quite surprising to people who are only familiar with current commercial products. For example, the first patent for an electronic tabletused for handwriting was for the telautograph, with a patent granted in 1888.[1] The first patent for a system that recognized handwritten characters by analyzing the handwriting motion was granted in 1915.[2] The first publicly-demonstrated system using a tablet and handwriting text recognition instead of a keyboard for working with a modern digital computer dates to 1956.[3] Alan Kay attempted toformulate his Dynabook concept as a tablet as early as 1968; to this day, his concept has not yet been fully realized.
In addition to many academic and research systems, there were several companies with commercial products in the 1980s: Pencept, Communications Intelligence Corporation, and Linus were among the best known of a crowded field. Later, GO Corp. brought out the PenPoint OS operatingsystem for a tablet product: one of the patents from GO corporation was the subject of recent infringement lawsuit concerning the Tablet PC operating system.[4]
In 1987 Apple Computer started its tablet project, which considered release of devices of three sizes, with the one eventually released in 1993, Apple Newton, being the smallest (yet it was quite substantial device with 6" screen and 800grams of weight).[5]
In 1994 media company Knight-Ridder made a concept video of a tablet device with a color display and a focus on media consumption. [6] The company didn't create it as a commercial product because of deficiencies of weight and energy consumption in display technology.
In 1996, The Webbook Company announced the first Internet-based tablet, then referred to as a Web Surfboard,that would run Java and utilize a RISC processor.[7][8][9][10][11] However, it never went into production.[citation needed]
One early implementation of a Linux tablet was the ProGear by FrontPath. The ProGear used a Transmeta chip and a resistive digitizer. The ProGear initially came with a version of Slackware Linux, but could later be bought with Windows 98.
[edit]Microsoft Tablet PC
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