I hadn't realized quite how many of the special-paper-free digital pens were out there now - last time I'd looked, the pens needed special paper and used a pen-tip camera for sensing (basically a special-purpose optical mouse).

Here's a collection of them: http://digital-pen-review.toptenreviews.com/

Interestingly, the last three pens in the comparison table all do look very similar to Wacom's offering. I wonder whether the Wacom pen is using the same technology (or is maybe even made by the same manufacturer behind the scenes?)

In any case, I reckon the Wacom name will help them sell, possibly helping promote them to artists wanting to sketch on the move rather than (as the linked comparison mentions) for business purposes.

Most of those digital pens used specially printed paper which had machine-readable dot patterns. This looks like it takes a different approach compatible with any paper/notebook.

Sounds like a great toy for those people who like to sketch notes in meetings etc. I wonder if it can replay the drawing as an animation?