In a recent press release, Gartner says that consumers and education will be the earliest adopters of touch-enabled PCs and by 2015, more than 50 percent of the PCs purchased for kids under age 15 will have touchscreens. This figure is up from less than two percent in 2009. Gartner also predicts that fewer than 10 percent of the computers sold to corporations in 2015 will have a touchscreen due to the significant typing requirements.
According to Gartner, as the prices for touch and pen-enabled devices come down, the education market may be a significant adopter. Most school districts will likely look for a device that has both touch and pen capabilities so that they do not have to support multiple devices for different grade levels. Leslie Fiering, research vice president at Gartner noted, "Consensus among the Gartner client U.S. school districts is that over half, and possibly as many as 75 percent, will be specifying touch and/or pen input within the next five years. Consider this as the precursor to a major upcoming generational shift in how users relate to their computing devices."
