Users fancy touchscreen PCs

ACCORDING TO A REPORT from analysts Canalys, many technology users like the idea of touchscreen PCs.

Canalys carried out its survery through a sample of 4,000 PC and mobile phone users in several European countries and found that a 'sizeable minority' would appreciate a touchscreen interface.

Although some might suggest that this would make users lazy, Canalys said that they were most likely to be early adopters of technology and would be the sort of people that buy netbooks and tablets.

Overall, 26 per cent of home desktop PC users and 32 per cent of laptop and netbook users were very interested in having a touchscreen interface on their computing device.

Perhaps with a certain announcement in mind, Canalys senior analyst Daryl Chiam, said, "Previous attempts at bringing tablet PCs to the mass market failed for a multitude of reasons. They were typically expensive, heavy and the pen-driven user interfaces were not seamlessly integrated into the whole user experience. Critically, they lacked compelling applications. Outside of a few occupational niches they brought little benefit. But user expectations and experience, and the underlying technologies, have moved on and it is time for the industry to try again."

However, the analyst suggested that although a touchscreen unit will be appealling to some, vendors should try and create a package of features and services to compliment it.

Chiam added, "A user that needs the full or specific functionality of a keyboard-centric PC is unlikely to be satisfied with a purely touch-screen UI as a replacement, so ask yourself who your product is aimed at and what the proposition is. And if it is based around content consumption rather than creation, you must make sure you have a role in the provision of that content."

One firm with a definite role in the provision of content is Apple, which the world plus dog thinks is going to launch a tablet device this afternoon. Canalys said that although Iphone users had not expressed much desire to own a touchscreen device, just under two-thirds displayed "a strong interest in having one on a netbook sized device."

Which sounds like that might be an Apple tablet to us. µ