IBM Joins the Pen Race

Will ship to “special” customers later this year

After months of showing a prototype pen-based tablet system, IBM tacked a moniker to the device and, at GO’s PenPoint 1.0 press event, made public its intentions. The 6-pound IBM ThinkPad measures about 1.5×9.5×12 inches and is built around a 20 MHz 386SX CPU. It comes with either 4 or 8 Mbytes of RAM. Instead of a hard disk for mass storage, the ThinkPad uses two 10 Mbyte solid state storage cards from SunDisk. The display is a transflective, backlit LCD with VGA resolution. To save power, however, you can turn off backlighting.

For power, the ThinkPad has an AC/DC adapter, and a rechargeable NiCd battery package with a three-hour charge life. The unit also sports an integrated 2400 data/9600 fax modem, a connector for an external 1.44/2.88 Mbyte disk drive, external keyboard port, untethered pen, and a “ruggedized” magnesium case which IBM claims can withstand a drop of 6 feet. Although the ThinkPad will ship with PenPoint, it will use an IBM-developed handwriting recognition engine.

Our first impression is that the ThinkPad is an attractive machine with some good features, although it is quite heavy for a mobile pen system. We particularly like the lightly etched display which, when you are writing on it, more closely resembles the feel of pen on paper than do other pen systems; the ability to turn off backlighting to conserve power is useful; and the solid-state storage instead of the conventional movable hard disk is a plus. Those naysayers who like to brow-beat IBM will be disappointed in the ThinkPad — the company is off on the right foot.

While there’s little surprise in the hardware configuration announced by IBM, the company’s initial marketing strategy did raise some eyebrows. IBM said the ThinkPad would be initially sold on a special-bid basis only to corporate customers and independent software developers. Pricing was not disclosed although rumor has it at about $4500. Although availability is expected in the fourth quarter of this year, Kathy Vieth, IBM’s vice president of Tablet Systems, said “special bid” versions of the systems will be available this summer.

IBM also announced the IBM Pen Developer Assistance Program which is designed to help corporate customers and ISVs develop applications software.

Speculation continues to abound that the ThinkPad will not be the only system in the IBM pen stable. Rumor has it that the company is working on a handheld device that will sell for under $1000 that may be out before the end of the year. Contact IBM at 800-426-9397 or 512-823-2851.