Originally posted by gazonk Is there really a difference?...
Wacom really, really needs some competition.
Originally posted by Digitalis That would make sense, Wacom pretty much have a monopoly on the graphics tablet industry
I must revise a bit what I just said. I had to look a bit deeper.
First, S-pen and a Wacom stylus do indeed differ. E.g., an Intuos 5 pen doesn't work an the Galaxy Note 2 (S-pen). I don't know how sophisticated an S-pen does get (tilt, leave alone rotation (this is what I meant by angle)). But it seems to support pressure in one of the Samsung Apps (S-Memo). The video I've seen produced at least 2 widths.
OTOH, Samsung does indeed use Wacom's EMR patented technology (Electo-Magnetic Resonance).
And eventually, it isn't a dead end at all:
On January 31, Wacom has announced that Samsung has laid out $58.9 million for a 5% share in the company. So, chances are that Samsung and Wacom become allies.
The best of course would be if any Samsung Android tablet could replace a smaller Wacom Cintiq and Wacom become an App maker.
As for tablets replacing laptops or PCs. I don't know. Apple didn't intend them to replace them (remember Jobs' harsh comment, when introducing the iPad about Netbooks which are the "worst of both worlds"?). We just entered the era of multiple personal devices and the fortune of tablet makers IMHO will depend on how well they can make all these devices blend. An area where Apple has taken a lead, btw.
And big Photoshop is getting more powerful on its own. Just think how slow large brushes paint on big Photoshop, how demanding content-aware fill behaves or how powerful PS actually is at processing dSLR video (it grew into a full blown video editor!) ... And why should I work on an 8" (or 11") screen if one, two or three 27" screens are so much more powerful ...