Smartphones & tablets to outsell PC's in 18 months...

[Pliablemoose]

Mobile computing – on a variety of devices and through a range of new applications – will continue to explode in 2011, forming another critical plank in the new industry platform. IDC expects shipments of app-capable, non-PC mobile devices (smartphones, media tablets, etc.) will outnumber PC shipments within the next 18 months – and there will be no looking back. While vendors with a PC heritage will scramble to secure their position in this rapidly expanding market, another battle will be taking place for dominance in the mobile apps market. The level of activity in this market will be staggering, with IDC expecting nearly 25 billion mobile apps to be downloaded in 2011, up from just over 10 billion in 2010. Over time, the still-emerging apps ecosystems promise to fundamentally restructure the channels for all digital content and services to consumers.

We're looking at a fundamental change in computing for the average person. There will always be PC's but there will be more smartphones and tablets very soon....

http://www.idc.com/about/viewpressr...ctionId=null&elementId=null&pageType=SYNOPSIS

 

[DivideBYZero]

Yeah, interesting, read this article this morning. I think it's correct, but PCs are not ready for replacement by these devices yet.

It seems the standard bearers of the PC market are ill prepared for the tablet age. The next five years will be very interesting.

 

[gsaldivar]

I know several people who own tablets that leave them on the table and have a laptop/desktop that they use for real work. While I'm certain sales in this space will increase, I don't see the level of desktop displacement over the next few years that these people are suggesting.

I agree with DBZ with the PC market being generally unprepared for the tablet age though. There have been many years of experimentation with this form factor, and only now (thanks to Apple) are we seeing serious momentum. I think Microsoft and most of the hardware manufacturers are out of touch with their consumers, and lack the synergy and forward thinking that Apple brings to the table.

 

[Monster_Munch]

How often do you buy an actual PC though? Most PC enthusiasts probably build their own from components bought online.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

whats held tablets and mobile devices back is lack of broadband like mobile internet. once 4g is here and companies like google talk the wireless companies down on price i wouldnt be surprised if mobile devices become a lot more popular than pc's since most people dont do much more than internet surf anyway. isnt verizon going to give limited free internet access with chromeOS or is that just for googles chosen testers?

 

[MrX8503]

It doesn't matter how powerful a smartphone/tablet will be, if its a "consume" device, it will never replace a PC.

How do you expect people to do real work without a PC? If anything a notebook would replace the desktop.

 

[hanoverphist]

How do you expect people to do real work without a PC? If anything a notebook would replace the desktop.

we already have replaced our PMs desktops with laptops. it got tedious to maintain two systems for those guys.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Yeah, interesting, read this article this morning. I think it's correct, but PCs are not ready for replacement by these devices yet.

It seems the standard bearers of the PC market are ill prepared for the tablet age. The next five years will be very interesting.

I suspect Android will be the big winner if Google doesn't try to push everyone on the cloud.

IMHO, the secret to ruling the tablet/smartphone space is the OS, a browser based OS (Chrome), tied to a data contract would make the cell carriers spooge, but I hope to hell consumers are smarter than that.

Apple not licensing iOS will limit the OS, with a polished Android offering for tablets, the sky's the limit...