Computing technology is a fast changing area, and virtually every new computer you buy becomes obsolete and outdated within a few months. In relation to the personal computer (PC), it all started with the desktop, followed by the laptop and now new elements include the smartphone and tablets. These portable devices are the latest accessory and consumers are queuing to buy them, and are less likely to invest in a cumbersome desktop or even a laptop.
Some people say the computer is becoming a thing of the past, being overcome by a variety of other computing technologies. However, this is the nature of these technologies. They change regularly, evolve and improve but remain in the market. In addition, computers only really became popular in the 70’s, which would mean finishing with such an important technology after just 40 years? Surely, there’s still life in the old machine!
This may be the view shared by one of the actual inventors of the computer, Mark Dean, who in 2011 stated that the PC was on “its way out”. He continued to say that he had already moved on from a PC onto a tablet. One thing he was right though. PCs are no longer the cutting edge technology, but its derivatives make the computing industry one of the most successful worldwide and the number of IT job opportunities reflect this.
In response to the development of these new technologies, companies that traditionally produced computers, have to embrace these new products and change their marketing strategies. It’s no longer only one product to sell, but a variety of different possibilities. Every time you switch your television on, you’re bombarded with dozens of products while these big names in the industry fight for dominance. This only serves to re-enforce the position of computing products in the market.
More and more popular these days are devices that allow you to access the internet on the move. You don’t have to wait to get home to read your emails any longer; you can do it from your phone from anywhere. The trend these days is towards smaller machines, which begs the question: what’s going to happen to the PC? Surely it still has its uses, like offices that require significant storage space, but you can easily see how this member of the computing family has become the black sheep in the family! You safely can say that its days for home and office use are numbered.
However, even the worst psychic can see that computing technologies are not going away. If anything, they’re expanding from our desk in to the rest of our house and car. In fact, we’ll have a lot of monitors around us, including in the car, the television and even in the fridge and bathroom mirror.
Specialists in the area comment that giant names that traditionally build PCs may struggle to compete for space with the new technologies and we may see new names coming out to play. Nonetheless, they believe that the development of new and innovative products for PCs can still give them profitable margins to maintain them in the market.
The question is not whether the computing technology will still have a market, but what technologies are going to replace it and how this is going to change this industry.