Another Touchscreen For The Great Unwashed (HPQ)(AAPL)

At one point in time it was "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage". These days that extends to touchscreen phones and PCs. Before the Apple (AAPL) iPhone, very few handsets had touchscreens. The technology was expensive. Jobs solved that.

Now, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the world’s largest computer company, will introduce a touchscreen PC for slightly more than $1,000. According to Reuters, "The TouchSmart All-in-One allows users to work with photos, music, video, the Internet and television by tapping or swiping the screen."

It is not hard to imagine that the product will be a failure. Apple’s iPhone has about 1% of the global handset market. The touchscreen may not replace the plain-old phone with tiny buttons.  At least it is hard for the fingers to miss the keys.

It is probably a long-shot to think people will want to pay more money for a touchscreen PC. It may be cool, but it really does not work any better than current computer configurations. Even the Mac uses real keys.

The electronics companies have always thought that novelty will sell new products. The is usually wrong. Utility trumps novelty every time.

Douglas A. McIntyre