Dell is usually one of the last PC manufacturers to enter new markets -- it waits for volumes to reach levels that can sustain its cost-cutting approach -- so the news that it finally plans to enter the Tablet PC market is probably a good sign. And the new Windows Vista convertible, which is briefly exposed in a Flash video on the Direct2Dell blog, does look good.
However, the Tablet PC form factor is still a long way from mass market acceptance. Dell says its machine is specifically aimed at the education, healthcare and corporate markets, which are essentially "fleet sales". Buyers frequently order them in batches of hundreds or sometimes thousands: they are not one-off sales to consumers, which is precisely the new market that Microsoft hoped the Tablet PC form factor would reach.
In other words, Dell's market entry doesn't mean the Tablet PC has finally become a success. It just means that Dell thinks it can sell enough systems to make money in the niche areas where tablet-style computing has had known advantages (and a provable ROI or "return on investment") for decades.
