Information Systems Management

N THE LAST DECADE, UBIQUITOUS computing has moved from a futuristic vision to a reality. As computing power continues to increase and hardware becomes more compact, computers have become part of our work and social life, anywhere and anytime. Benefiting from the combination of wireless connectivity and portability similar to that of a traditional spiral notebook, the tablet PC is allowing people to rethink how they do their work. The tablet PC offers such features as lightweight portability, wireless connectivity, and, as the most important factor differentiating it from notebook and desktop computers, stylus input in addition to the traditional keyboard. Obviously, the purpose of these features is to allow users to perform their jobs more effectively and efficiently. However, relatively little prior empirical research exists on whether users perceive that the technological benefits of the tablet PC meet their business needs. Thus we are lifting the lid and looking inside the black box of tablet PC use to attempt to better understand what affects the acceptance and use of the tablet PC in the corporate world. To gain rich insights into how these computing devices are used in the corporate environment, we collected qualitative data at several corporate sites in a range of industries, including medical, education, publishing, and retail. Each organization selected a group of individuals to use the tablet PC as their primary personal computing device for three months or longer. Each study participant was trained on how to use the device, and technical support was provided to the users throughout the study. Participants shared their experiences with us during semistructured interviews. The interviews not only gave us the opportunity to explore variables associated with technology acceptance in previous research, but also enabled new findings to emerge. This article reports the results of this research effort.