"Broad horizontal corporate markets should start to make an impact on the market in 2005, as average selling prices fall well below $2,000," says Brian O'Rourke, In-Stat analyst. "A combination of greater Tablet PC software availability and larger form factors that directly address the corporate market should help Tablet PC sales."

The recent In-Stat report, "Tablet PC 2005: Increasing Shipments Amid a Cloudy Future," finds that vertical markets, such as healthcare, real estate, insurance, and
sales force automation, continued to be a driving factor in Tablet PC shipments. Acer, Fujitsu, HP, Motion Computing, and Toshiba were among the leading suppliers of Tablet PCs in 2004.

The report goes on to suggest that the Tablet PC version of Microsoft's next generation Longhorn operating system will have a "significant impact" on Tablet PC sales. Additionally, In-Stat suggests that Microsoft's recently announced Ultra Mobile 2007 Tablet PC form-factor (pictured at right) could also affect future Tablet PC shipments.

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