Tablets and bullets

Microsoft has struggled to find a receptive audience for its Tablet PC format, but maybe that's because it overlooked a potentially lucrative market: assassins.

At least that's the way it works in the movies, specifically current crime thriller "Collateral," in which Tom Cruise plays a hired gun who relies on a Hewlett-Packard TC1100 Tablet PC to meticulously organize an evening of hits.

We wonder why someone in that profession wouldn't choose HP's "rugged" device, but the decision to go Tablet makes perfect sense. Don't you just hate trying to type when you've got a pistol in your hand?

Neither HP nor Microsoft's marketing--umm, collateral--mentions one of the biggest product placements yet for the Tablet PC format. The movie studio's fan sweepstakes for "Collateral," in fact, promises the winner the wrong Microsoft product--an Xbox game console, which would be useless to a professional hit man.

But given the tepid reception so far for the Tablet PC concept, it wouldn't be too surprising if life imitates Hollywood, and technology companies start courting the organized-crime market with specialized applications. A bullet inventory management tool, for instance, would have really helped out Cruise's character.

It's too late, by the way, to snag one of the actual Tablet PCs used in the film, but you can see the props in all their glory on eBay.