This is the multi-million dollar question being asked in the market today but as yet there doesn’t seem to be a clearly defined answer. Obviously the ‘early adopters’ and tech geeks are the first out of the traps but will the masses follow.

The Tablet Market

It goes without saying that Apple’s iPad has given a shot in the arm to the tablet market as hardware manufacturers are clambering over themselves to release devices with the style and features of the iPad but none of the drawbacks that Apple have been so severely criticized for.

According to a Forrester Research report released earlier this year indications are that tablets will out sell netbooks from 2012 and will make up 23% of all PCs sold to consumers in the US by 2015 with sales expected to rise from 3.5 million units in 2010 to 20.4 million units in 2015. Tablets are here to stay.

Is Dual Twice As Good?

The electronics market is all about innovation and setting the standards that others have to follow and Apple have got this down to a fine art. So the question in R&D meetings around the world has been ‘how can a tablet be made better?’ The answer on everyone’s lips seems to be ‘dual screens’.

Toshiba and MSI have already launched acclaimed dual screen tablets. Microsoft had been working on the dual screen Courier (although shelved, for now) and Kno are convinced that dual screen tablets are the future for student e-textbooks.

One of the obvious benefits of a dual screen tablet is the ability to have one screen as a touch screen keyboard with the other for display. But doesn’t that just do the same as a netbook?

Two screens also allows a for better use of the display real estate with files and windows being able to be moved from one screen to the other or multiple programs at the same time

Clam shell design dual screen devices can be successful. Just take a look at the Nintendo DS. But the key reason that the DS works so well is that the software is written specifically for two screens and this may be what is needed for the tablet market.

Both the Toshiba and MSI dual screen tablets run on Windows 7 which does not have the best user interface in the industry and cannot make best use of the additional screen functionality.

Price is also a problem for dual screen tablets as you can expect a tag well in excess of $1000 (how much is the iPad again?).

There is definitely a place for dual screen devices however this may be in the near future as prices drop and software developers catch on.