In a recent publication addressing Tablet PC sales, Tablet PC Sales are Slowly Gaining Momentum, Garter specifically calls out use of Tablet PCs in education, particularly higher education as a dominant market driver of convertible form factors.
The article also states, "In the past year, there has been growing interest from students, mostly in higher education," and "Inserting nontext characters into notes or new documents — Many higher-education students and faculty in math, chemistry, physics and engineering are using tablet PCs." I just pulled out two of the several possible quotes from the report about Tablet PCs in education, all of which are address the growing role of education in the Tablet PC market. I specifically see that the efforts through Microsoft Research, such as with its RFPs and workshops, has been a major driver of this interest, as well as commercial software applications extending value.
Gartner provides three possible forecasts, which I find very interesting. It lists good, better, best scenarios in which the main dependency is how much marketing attention Microsoft provides for Tablet technology. I agree that Microsoft should play a major role in this. At the same time, companies like Toshiba, Lenovo, HP, Gateway, DyKnow, xThink, Agilix, and the many others in the ecosystem will play an even greater role in continued growth of Tablet technology in education. These companies are heavily involved from a education planning role as well with immediate sales. It'll be exciting to see how this market continues to grow.
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