Phone is just now killing PC

Mobile wireless smartphones are just starting to kill Personal Computers, PCs. The box-shaped form-factor with separate display, keyboard and mouse has already been transformed into laptops, nettops, netbooks, iPads etc. Now disappearing of that transformed box called PC is closer than ever.

The alternate reality lies in your pocket, the mobile smartphone. You carry it everywhere, it wakes you up at morning and it is with you all the day. It has been used for the small and short tasks, like a replacement of a wristwatch, alarm clock, and of course as a messaging device.

PC is used for the "real work", like planning, writing, drawing, email etc. PCs are used for tasks that last longer, often hours per session. For those sessions, everyone wants a big screen, a proper keyboard, a comfortable mouse, a trackball, a drawing tablet, headphones and other accessory. It is just impossible to work longer without those things. How can a phone with tiny keyboard and small display replace these?

Well, it can't. But right now the connectivity and processing power of the mobile smartphones is gaining rapidly. Bluetooth has been there for ages for audio and keyboards. TV-OUT and HDMI connectors for displays are newcomers, but are there right now. Processor speeds are now at 1 GHz and GPUs are becoming a standard feature. And almost all the accessories that are used with PCs are available in wireless format. Keyboards, mice, headphones etc. If those accessories are not yet compatible with Bluetooth and phones, they will be very soon.

Most of us will soon have a smartphone carried with us, and at home we will have big screen, keyboard and mouse that will be connected to the phone. Our future PC, the mobile computer. The transformation will take years, no doubt. But knowing the replacement rates of mobile phones and PCs, it won't take too long.

This transformation is starting right now. This year, 2010, is the beginning of the end of the PC as we have known it. Watch out and move accordingly.