HP insists touchscreen technology is the future

Touch PCs to go mainstream in 2008

26 November 2007 14:07 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

A Hewlett Packard executive in Taiwan has been discussing the future of the market and offered some glimpses of what we can expect soon from the hardware company.

Dennis Chen, personal systems group general manager at HP Taiwan noted that touchscreen-based products including PDAs, handsets and notebooks will become more mainstream in 2008, while home desktop PCs using this technology will become more commonplace.

HP has a vested interest in this tech - they were first to (mass) market with a touchscreen desktop PC, the IQ 770.

Critics see this format as impractical, for one ergonomic reason in particular; sitting at a desk and having to keep your arm in the air in order to operate the monitor by touch is not comfortable.

HP is planning to showcase its touchscreen-based PCs at Taiwan's IT Month show in December and - another snippet - is apparently also planning to launch "several" UMPCs in the first half of next year.