How Smart is the SMART Table?

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=79920&title=SMART_Table___An_ideal_interactive_learning_center

http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Table/

This is the new SMART Table- just recently out in Australia. It's put out by the same people who made the first interactive whiteboards, who are also the most common brand. It's multi- finger touch, uses cameras to locate position and requires only power. To control the applications on it, you can use a syncing software or USB stick. At the moment, there's a limited number of applications that can be modified with selected curriculum material on a PC, saved and loaded onto the table.
This is where I see digital technologies going in the next few years in schools. Why? Collaboration is the answer. More and more, collaboration is the fundemental learning mode in the classroom. More and more research comes out that collaboration is the key to successful learning. So how does IT and collaboration happen? Well, it's true that more and more collaboration online is going on for educational purposes- forums, blogs, chat, pages that allow group contribution, and these modes of learning are becoming more popular. However, many teachers find these types of learning modes confrontational because they are not digital natives. They can become quite complex and overwhelming for teachers who are at much lower technology user levels than their students. And I think it's not hard to make a case for face-to-face collaboration as a useful learning mode.
So how else can we collaborate with IT in the equation? Well interactive whiteboards can facilitate class collaboration, but only one or two students can touch a board at a time.
Students can sit next to each other on one computer and discuss their work- but we all know the drawbacks of that-only one student can control the computer at once.
That's why I can see a future with the Smart Table. It's all about collaboration. Lots of kids can have their fingers on it at once. A group of kids can easily see the activity in front of them, discuss it and all students can see the other student's progress.
So what about applications? I'd love to get my teeth into designing some great learning tools for this. At the moment, the main drawback is the limited set of activites you can do on it and (in my opinion) the lack of imagination for the activities the have created. I think they need to get their head around the fact that a different learning mode means completely different activities (not the old-fashion mulitple choice question). The other limitation is also, of course, the price. At $10000 a pop (in Australia) it's going to have to come down in price before it's benefits can justify it's costs.
I'd be interested to know what others think of it...