When exactly?

I've been waiting for this for a long time, and this is the first confirmation I've had of the idea going onto paper. It's Apple's patent for a tablet computer, filed in 2003.

I'm surprised these didn't hit the market with the advent of the new Pentium systems this year, as many Windows-run tablet PC's have been on the market since early 2003. I get the feeling you could to a lot more than color in your spreadsheets with Apple.