Tablet PC launched today, ASB to trial

9.00am - by RICHARD WOOD

The ASB Bank will be the first company in New Zealand to trial Microsoft's Tablet PC which is launched today.

The ten week field trial - involving four Tablets - begins next week and involves the bank's mobile sales force.

Microsoft has set manufacturing specifications for the slim notebook style of device which uses a handwriting stylus for input.

A number of manufacturers including Acer, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Viewsonic will release a range of models today - some without keyboards and some where the keyboard swivels and folds away or is detachable.

ASB has experimented with a pre-release Tablet and has developed investment advisor software for the device over the last four weeks.

The software uses ActiveDocs document automation technology from Auckland software exporter Keylogix.

A mobile mortgage manager application is also planned.The bank's general manager technology operations and property Clayton Wakefield said the combination of technologies offered by the Tablet - pressure sensitive pen input with handwriting recognition, "wireless broadband" and speech recognition _ had huge potential.

Also the screen can be turned to show the customer and, under recent legislation, [The Electronic Transactions Act] signatures are acceptable signed directly on the screen, he said.

"The mobility is the big thing. It's very usable and very manageable and a size that people will actually port around."

For wireless connectivity ASB expects to use both Telecom's CDMA and Vodafone's GPRS mobile networks.

Wakefield said while other tablet devices have been proffered over the years, Microsoft has brought a focus to the development.

Software for the Tablet can be developed in a regular Microsoft development environment and then loaded onto the Tablet, which uses an enhanced version of the Windows XP operating system.

ASB staff already use around 100 notebook computers and besides these Wakefield said some desktop users may also be interested in a Tablet as their machines are replaced in the ordinary purchasing cycle.