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For all the naysayers screaming ‘gimmick’ and ‘fad’, it’s clear that the tablet is now a major computing form factor, and that it’s here to stay. The iPad continues to be ludicrously successful, and that success is now being shared by Google, Samsung, Acer and Asus; among others. Microsoft clearly knows the score – hence the launch of its own Surface tablet in October – and with new Kindle Fire models on the horizon, plus a rumoured 7in iPad mini, competition in the sector can only heat up. All this comes at a time when the PC, even in its sleekest, most desirable Ultrabook form, is struggling to shift units. How did a device that was once little more than a joke get so big? How did it go from a zero to a hero overnight?
Well, it didn’t. The tablet is a success story over forty years in the making, and one that needed a whole set of stars to align before it actually made sense. You can trace its inception back to Alan Kay’s Dynabook back in 1968: a proto-tablet with both stylus and keyboard controls, developed at the legendary Xerox Parc, and aimed at giving children access to digital media, accessible programming tools and education. The Dynabook with battery like Fujitsu FPCBP159 Battery , Fujitsu LifeBook A3100 Battery , Fujitsu LifeBook A6020 Battery , Fujitsu FPCBP160 Battery , Fujitsu FPCBP171 Battery , Fujitsu LifeBook P7230 Battery , Fujitsu FPCBP176 Battery , Fujitsu FPCBP251 Battery , Fujitsu FPCBP199 Battery , Fujitsu FPCBP233 Battery , Fujitsu FMVNBP168 Battery , Fujitsu FPCBP182 Battery never made it to market, but it and other research projects, such as the NoteTaker device prototyped in the 1970s at MIT, helped lay the groundwork for a whole range of devices that did, including the PDA and the original Microsoft Tablet PC.
The first commercial tablet was the GRiDPad, a touchscreen tablet designed by the GRiD Systems Corporation and first manufactured by Samsung in 1989. Based on an 8086-architecture NEC V20 processor, and sporting a 10in 640 x 400 monochrome LCD screen, it was a stylus controlled computer that was used primarily for stocktaking and logistics, and – suitably ruggedised - found favour for many years in the US military.
Interestingly, one of the names behind the GRiDPad was Jeff Hawking, who went on to co-found Palm Computing and design the original Palm Pilot. More than any device, it was the Palm that set down some of the early rules for touchscreen computing, and it was in the PDA that many of the seeds for today’s tablets were sown. At a time when Wi-Fi was a luxury and high-speed mobile communications were unknown, Palm’s devices defined how stylus interfaces could work, and made mobile email and Internet a reality.
Yet the most influential device wasn’t Palm’s but Apple’s. The Newton, first introduced in 1993, was a stylus driven device with a 5in 320 x 240 resolution monochrome screen designed not just to act as a mobile companion, but as a device that could reinvent portable computing. Despite several revisions the Newton was never the revolutionary success Apple intended it to be. Some mocked its lack of speed and its sometimes dubious handwriting recognition, and it was always too expensive for mass consumption. However, in its later 6in and keyboard-dockable versions you can see the roots of today’s 7in tablets, and indeed the iPad itself.