patrick.net

There's not a day that goes by that I don't see a story by some mobile computing fan is predicting the demise of PC's. Given the rapid growth of the Iphone/Black Berry/Smart phone market they believe the PC days are numbered. I however can't see office workers sitting in the cubes creating documents and reports on there smart phones with tiny keyboards. It's just not going to happen. It's impossible to be productive on a tiny keyboard and a 4 inch screen as a computer user with a full size keyboard, mouse and 17 inch monitor. It's just not going to happen. Mobile computing has it's place and it's uses, but they are not a replacement for PC's. Others are quick to point out that the explosive growth of Xbox/PS3/gaming console market seriously threaten the home PC, again I have to laugh, did you even try to play the Civilization on an Xbox? It's a lobotomized version with a sub-standard user interface controller. It might be enough to satisfy a video console user that never played the real thing, but any person who played the original game on a PC would never tolerate it. What about World of Warcraft? There are around 20 million players that play this game alone. If some of the bigger computer makers want to abandon this market, there will be plenty of companies that would love to love to support even this niche market alone. There are also millions of other gamers that don't play WoW, but enjoy killing aliens on there computers. Some of the best computer games released recently were all made for the PC originally. Bioshock, Fallout, Bad Company, Call of Duty, there were all released for the PC first and are far superior to the video game console versions released later, provided you have updated computer hardware.

I believe mobile computing growth will soon top out and it will be just another electronic device, instead of a game changer like they are claiming. Every new industry firmly believes they are the future. I remember working in the casino's, and the wild predictions of all the untapped market that is out there. but what they forget is despite how many casinos you build, there are only so many people that gamble. Building more casino's doesn't create demand, anymore than selling a new an improved smart phone or upgrading the wireless network does. The market will top at out that will be the end of that revolution.

Personally I do not own a Smart phone, hell I don't even text on my phone. I see other people in meetings fiddling on there phones, yes they are neat, but I have no interest getting one for myself.