Laptops Could Be Obsolete In Five Years
Laptop computers now outsell desktops in stores; for the majority of consumers, the smaller devices serve perfectly well as their main computer. That would have been hard to imagine back in the mid-Eighties, when IBM and Apple introduced their first primitive laptops, each weighing in at about twelve pounds.Half of travelling workers will leave their notebooks at home in favour of other devices in the next five years, an IT research firm said in a forecast of upcoming global industry trends. Research has highlighted 10 key predictions of events and developments that will affect the IT industry and related businesses in 2008.
So there are indeed alternatives to the tiny keyboard. How about the display? Smartphone screens are awfully small compared to a laptop, yet they can’t get much bigger and still fit into a purse or jacket pocket.
The predictions highlight areas where executives and IT professionals need to take action this year so that they can exploit the trends for their competitive advantage.
As users begin to make their own decisions about what technologies to use, they shift industry dynamics. Apple has had a resurgence of its leadership in the innovative delivery of PC technologies. As users grow frustrated with PCs, the Apple model [if not its prices] begins to become extremely attractive again. And although this interest continues, users are now gaining enough functionality in mobile and wireless devices that it may be possible to leave the laptop at home in favour of the ubiquitous handheld device. Even in the home and business, individual technologies are growing in prominence.
Apple is challenging its competitors with software integration that provides ease of use and flexibility; continuous and more frequent innovation in hardware and software; and an ecosystem that focuses on inter-operability across multiple devices such as iPod and iMac cross-selling.
Stronger competition between Apple and Microsoft will leave Intel more room to set PC industry standards. HP, Toshiba, Sony, Dell are the PC manufacturers most likely to be threatened by Apple’s success.
The report recommends that IT managers should be prepared to field more requests to connect Apple products to the corporate network. PC vendors are urged to actively explore ways to offer physical customer service points and better software integration. They need to accelerate efforts to develop brand attributes and segment-focused designs.
Vendors are developing new classes of internet-centric pocket devices at the sub-$400 level; and server and web-based applications that can be accessed from anywhere. These could erode the laptop’s market share.
But then it took the laptop nearly twenty years to surpass the desktop — so there’s still plenty of time left for technologists to deliver the next replacement.
“Come on guys, now its your turn to talk.”
Screen size will always be an issue, technology will and has developed to create projectors that can be incorporated into ever smaller devices but ultimately screen size will dictate the size of a device.
Laptops will survive in different forms. There are devices now that project full size keyboards onto any surface, you can buy cigarette bix size projectors that can be plugged into any device.
Portable devices will simply get smaller but the demand for a large screen and full keyboard will not go away, technology will adapt to this.
As for the PC it will never truly go away it will simply become an integeral part of someone’s house in much the same way as the water boiler has. My server, 3TB memory, sits in the pantry (coldest room) and screens and boards are where I need them as every room has the appropriate sockets to hook up to the server. That is the future of the PC, a massive multimedia storage device accessable from every room.
With the rise of wireless technology even the sockets will eventually disappear.
I recall reading an article where a guy had set up a wireless system in his house and hooked up the TV, DVD multideck and home cameras. He was able to access his home network from any location in the world and (with a camera set up) even watch his TV.
Aeroplanes made the world a smaller place, wireless, computers, and the internet are literally shrinking our world ever smaller.
Kinda off topic I know but I felt like typing
it doesn’t matter!! i don’t have my own pc and laptop!!! hehehehehehe