Bob, I disagree. 

Tablets have been gaining market share with mobile professionals steadily for 2 years...things are slowing down now for two reasons; one it's a slower market there is no hurry to get something signed, and the second is that with Vista coming out...a lot of us are waiting to upgrade to the new system when it's released.

I use one, my home inspection company uses them, 4 of us at the office have one (out of the 4 with notebooks 3 have the same model)....I cannot wait to get the new updated version.

When I teach the Intro to e-PRO class, I spend about ten minutes showing off my computer and showing Realtors how I use technology.  I see a lot of jaws drop...you don't know what you don't know.  A lot of real estate professionals are too busy, and not at all interested in being progressive when it comes to technology...they are 3 or 4 years behind the leading edge.
That's ok by me, I like to be the leader ;)

Alisa in Denver

Bob Leonard wrote about whether the tablet PC will last, as the sales have not been what was expected and whether they will last. I think that many did not give great thought about who would buy tablets. Do they make a lot of sense for the average consumer? Probably not now as the price of a tablet is much higher than a comparable laptop. Writing on a screen would only come into play rarely for many consumers and certain types of businesses.

Where they are really growing in popularity is in the health care field. For example the hospital my wife works in has added tablet PC's into every operating room and emergency room cubicle, and to the doctors stations. They are now adding them to every room on each floor of the hospital. I used to be in the healthcare field still do some consulting. Many hospitals are slowly adding them for their staff. In the healthcare field writing is what they usually do. They can write the progress reports, care plans, and prescriptions. They can write or click on a choice. Much better than working with the old paper records.

I am a bit surprised that they have not been more popular in real estate. I use mine all the time. It saves me lots of hours and money. I use it to do my listing presentation and make it interactive. I write up offers and listings agreements right on the screen, print them out on my mobile printer, email them to my office and to the listing agent. When the other agent has a tablet we can do counter offers and email them back quickly and there is no loss in quality. I carry mine virtually everywhere. I find also that I win listings and business partially by having it. I have gone up against many of the top producers and beat them based on what I can do with the tablet. While other Realtors are running back to the office to write up an offer or fax an offer, I do it right in the field.

Overall the tablet is great for certain professions but not for the average user. Until the price is comparable to a comparable laptop they probably will not go mainstream. But after using a tablet I would never want to go back to the old way of doing business.

Jeff Launiere

Info@SweetHomeTampa.com