But history is history and will stay this way. Future is the one thing that interests us most and in a few months we’ll see if the touch tablet digital trend catches on as this is not the first time tablets hit the market. They did it in convertible form a few years ago but had the big disadvantage of costing a few times more than a regular notebook plus lacked on software support to take advantage of the new input system (an analogy with Windows Mobile operating system comes to my mind now as this is one example of bad OS porting, whiteout adaptation to the new needs).

This year seems things will get straight for touch tablets as there was a big variety of sizes, functions, OSes and hardware platforms on display at CES. We will see for sure segmentation here. I’m betting on large tablets for home use (where you aren’t concerned about size) and smaller cheaper tablets for occasional browsing on the move.

If you like, tablets are something that falls right in between a big screen Smartphone (think iPhone for example) and a small netbook that’s not really comfortable to use on the road unless you have a place to sit and a laptop desk stand to put the gadget on. I believe that actual netbooks can be in danger because tablets cover the same functions netbooks have but at a slimmer footprint and are capable of serious multimedia (thanks to the Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset), things that netbooks don’t do very well.

This article was brought to you by Alltouchtablet.com, a site that deals with everything about touchscreen tablet computers and sets the record straight with consumers about what to expect from a tablet, where to get one and how to make better use of it.