Desktop computers may become 'irrelevant'

It has been suggested that as a result of consumers and business users accessing the Internet via mobile broadband connections and WiFi the desktop PC as we know it may become ‘irrelevant’.

Just a few years ago many of us were totally reliant on our desktop computers in order to access broadband internet, and most of us had no other option but to get online from a fixed location such as the home or office, with the only freedom being whether we had a wireless router than allowed us to get online from different parts of the house or office without troublesome cabling.

However, these days there is so much more freedom for users to enjoy, and both business and casual users are able to get online with ease and convenience whilst out and about. Users can take their laptops to get online using WiFi hotspots that are available around the country, or can sign up to a mobile broadband package that will enable them to get online using their laptop in any area where there is mobile phone coverage. There are also mobile devices such as 3G smart phones, which many people use to surf the Internet.

Speaking at the Digital Landscapes Conference in Ireland John Herlihy, the vice-president of Global Ad Operations, stated that the world of computing had now become mobile, and that this could result in the desktop PC as we know it becoming ‘irrelevant’. He added that in some countries the majority of research was already carried out on mobile devices.

He said: “In three years time, desktops will be irrelevant. In Japan, most research is done today on smart phones, not PCs. Mobile makes the world’s information universally accessible. Because there’s more information and because it will be hard to sift through it all, that’s why search will become more and more important. This will create new opportunities for new entrepreneurs to create new business models – ubiquity first, revenue later.”

Source – Telegraph