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The Growing Battle of Mobile vs. PC

I am really amazed at the way the cell phone technology has grown. Now-a-days we can do

everything with the cellphone. Now with the business series we can do even more. We can Connect

to internet, call, email, fax, calender, reminder, alarm, camera, audio, video, TV, .......

The buzz is so loud its deafening: goodbye PC/laptop, hello mobile device. All the excitement and

innovation seems to be around mobile devices, and PCs (and I include laptops in this category) are

yesterdays legacy toast.

The classic: IBM's 5150, released in 1981. A little tough to lug around, though.

Where are we heading? Will cell phones replace the computers one day?

Will computers be replaced by mobile phones when the time comes? This is now becoming a

question of a lot of people since mobile phones are now slowly developing that it can already enable

you to do the tasks that you can do with a computer such as playing your favorite game, surfing the

internet, streaming videos on social networking sites, taking pictures, and even sending and

receiving emails and text messages.

Today, there are already more than 1.5 billion of cell phone units that have been produced over the

years. This only shows that a lot of people are now using mobile phones. These people may use their

cell phones for necessity and some just for luxury.

techmind:

Mobile phones are becoming more and more sophisticated and are getting good enough to do

some basic web-browsing such as a Google search to find local taxi companies, to check the weather

forecast, news headlines, traffic report, summon Google maps, or check out what friends are doing

on Facebook.

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That said, the experience falls far short of what you could do with a proper laptop.

-I'm not aware that any phone on the market could connect to a full-size screen (this is somewhat

outside the remit of a phone)

-I think some of the smartphones do have some accessory keyboards - but they still won't be as

ergonomic as a proper keyboard

-the internet connection can be reasonable if you have a good "3G" mobile-phone signal, but when

you're out of coverage the speeds are agonisingly slow (virtually like an old dial-up modem)

-You should be aware that the phone networks often intercept your web-browsing to give a cut-

down version of the web (faster to download) with shrunk images and other dynamic reformatting.

This can 'break' some websites (especially those with complicated layout and not really intended for

mobile use) and make them unusable on your phone.

In-built digital cameras in phones are great as a freebie, but the resolution is a bit below what you'dget on a stand-alone digital camera, they'll rarely have a proper flash, and the low-light performance

is pretty ropey. Given that the camera module in a phone adds no more than a dollar or two to the

handset cost, what do you expect? Also the lens gets scuffed and covered with dust and pocket-lint,

so after a few months the picture quality will be degraded compared to when the phone was new.

Probably you could listen to internet radio on some advanced models (provided the 3G signal was

good enough), but you'd probably run the battery down in a few hours, and your contracted data-

allowance may get used up pretty fast (radio might well be 40 megabytes per hour or something).

What you might consider is what they call a 'netbook' which is a somewhat cut-down and slimmer

laptop, typically running Windows or Linux with integrated 3G data-modem which works off the

mobile phone network. In the UK at least you can buy these from the phone companies on a

contract model where you pay £25/month (perhaps US$40/month) for a 2-3 year contract which

pays for both the computer and the ongoing data-service. By the end of the contract you own the

netbook (no, or minimal up-front payment).

I have 3G (mobile-network based) data-modem USB dongle which gives "broadband" internet. If I

only ever used this with a laptop, on the move, I'd be thrilled with it. In reality I use it as my home

broadband with my desktop computer (I'm in rented accomodation and didn't want to commit to

long wired-broadband contracts)... it works reasonably well, but it has a number of teething troubles

indicative of an immature technology and is a passable, but poor, substitute for real wired

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broadband. I suspect how well it works depends on the operators attitude to it, and we get the

impression in the UK that its a far lower priority than voice-calls! I don't know what things are like in

the USA

The convergence between mobile phones and 'conventional' personal computers (including laptops

and netbooks) is a certainty.

The issues needing to be addressed are the screen size, data input and control, and of course,

power.

The screen and data input/control issues will eventually be solved by in-eye laser projection systems.

The in-eye projection system will also incorporate a scanner so that it can also be used for iris scan

identification, so that several different people can be simultaneously identified and fed customised

feeds. The same technology will also handle data input by overlaying a virtual keyboard, where

needed, and handle control by tracking gestures.

I'd be surprised if the in-eye projection and scanner system hasn't already been prototyped by now,

but power is still looking to be a bit of a problem for the foreseeable future.

IDC just published a report that proclaims the PC-centric era is over. According to a summary in

the New York Times, IDC predicts that within 18 months, non-PC devices capable of running

software applications will outsell PCs. In tablets. Apples iPad will remain the leader, but lower-cost

tablets will begin making inroads, especially as demand for tablets really takes off in emerging

markets.

IDC predicts that by next year, half of the 2.1 billion people who regularly use the Internet will do so

using non-PC devices.

In another perspective, iPass just issued the results of a survey that highlights research that 37

percent of workers thought another device would soon take the role of PCs/laptops, and 27 percent

believed it would be the iPad or another tablet.

In a commentary posted at TechCrunch, Steve Cheney talks about the significant shift in emphasis

taking place from the PC model to small form-factor mobile devices. As Cheney describes it: On the

heels of the latest Android phone, the Sprint HTC EVO, and iPhone 4, it seems like mobile devices

and platforms are innovating at about five times the pace of personal computers. Rapid

advancement in mobile is often attributed to the natural disruption by which emerging industries

innovate quickly, while established markets like PCs follow a slower, more sustained trajectory Its

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very likely that within five years, tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices will have

permanently left PC innovation behind.

Theres no denying that mobility is the rule of the new workplace and workforce going forward,

especially in this hyper-competitive era. Salespeople visiting prospects can enter essential data andprovide on-the-spot quotes. Insurance field adjusters can move about their assignments with these

devices, providing real-time feeds to central offices to help quickly settle open claims. Its a lot easier

to move about with a mobile device than to lug a laptop. Plus, theres no fussing with operating

systems it just turns on and off.

However, are mobile devices really capable of doing much of the heavy lifting required in the daily

workloads of many managers and employees? On a mobile device, creating documents would be all-

thumbs. It would have been too painful to try to write this blog post from my smartphone. And I

dont think anyone would enjoy the experience of cranking out a 40-page research project or whitepaper from a mobile device.

How would a customer service operation fare if representatives were sitting at their desks looking at

small-screen mobile devices? Would you want your purchasing people entering purchase order and

financial information into mobile phones?

There is the third way touchscreen tablet and lightweight, inexpensive netbooks, which are

laptops that meet the smartphones halfway. And yes, you can hook mobile devices to keyboardsand even monitors to provide a larger-footprint experience. But then youre essentially back to

having a PC.

Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney pondered thus question in a Network World article last year.

Smartphones are still content consumption devices, not content creation ones. Every knowledge

worker has to do content creation, so youve got to have a desktop or a laptop to do it.

If youre going to be crunching numbers on an Excel spreadsheet or writing documents all day long,youre not going to want to do that on a BlackBerry, says one user quoted in the Network World

article, who relies on a cheap PC to get heavy-lifting work done back at the office. But if youre

managing people and on the phone a lot, or in sales and going on a quick overnighter to see a client,

you could make a good case for traveling light with just a BlackBerry.

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Yes, theres no denying that mobile devices are the wave of the future. But well still be seeing a lot

of traditional PCs and laptops in that future as well. PCs and mobile devices will co-exist, and will

blend and overlap in form and functionality. Its likely that PCs/laptops will adopt much of the look

and feel of mobile devices in fact, monitors with touch-screen capabilities are already on the

market. And very important PCs and mobile devices will even run many of the same

applications.

In content-rich environments, it doesnt seem feasible that full-screen PCs and laptops will go away

anytime soon. For heavy-duty, heads-down work, you need that PC footprint.

As a fact, there is a German communication scientist named Riepl who formulated a law which

postulates that new media never completely replace older ones. Rather some form of co-existence

develops which also incorporates new usage patterns that the new media may have introduced.

Conclusion: No phone will ever take the place of a computer because of one issue-battery life.that

is why I am waiting for a Playbook to complement my Torch 9800.

Mobile phones today has lots of applications and programs that make it a formidable electronic

device that can match the computer, But maybe the on the issue that the mobile might face if it will

really match up to a computer is that you cant easily upgrade it hardware not like the computer

where you can just plug and play the device or modification you have just added.

Cell phones aren't likely to take the fastest road to this bright future. Innovation in the mobile

industry is full of zigzags and wrong turns, often because no single company completely controls the

device in your pocket. Carriers like Sprint and AT&T sell the phone to customers, provide billing and

run the phone network; device makers like Sony, Nokia and Samsung design the phone itself and

outsource the actual manufacturing to factories in China. Another challenge is that, unlike theInternet, the phone world has no open and single set of protocols for programmers to build around.

Software written for one kind of phone won't work on all the others. The uncoordinated,

noncommercial programming that led to the quick evolution of the Internet hasn't taken hold in the

world of mobile phones.

Why Cell Phones are Replacing the Laptop

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By Damon Brown

Even people who write reports and simple data entry will find themselves leaving their

notebook computers behind.

Ten years ago, the BlackBerry was known as a Wall Street icon or a geek organizer, far tooexpensive and nerdy to be used by mere mortals.

Today, "BlackBerry" is the new "Kleenex," the generic name people give to any personal

digital assistant, or PDA. Treo and other companies are giving BlackBerry a run for its

money, while cute devices like the T-Mobile Sidekick have made owning a PDA-like cell

phone hip. When little portable computer phones get Paris Hilton endorsements, it's safe to

say that their bigger cousin, the laptop, is going the way of the dinosaur.

"In a physical sense, there are many phones that now have QWERTY keyboards and scaled

down Intel processors," says Kurt Collins, business development manager at Photobucket,

an online publisher of visual digital content. "Many PDA phones come with software that

allows the user to not only check e-mail, but also read and write Microsoft Office

documents."

Cell phones and PCs now rank as the most important devices for American consumers under

40, outranking even the TV, according to a survey by Forrester Research. The way that

translates into the business market is that more and more consumer technologies are being

used by workers in the office and out in the field. Laptop sales are, by some estimates, on

schedule to outpace PC sales. But cell phones are already surpassing land-line phones in

such locations as Europe and certain states, such as North Dakota, according to regulators.

In mid-2006, the number of cellular connections in the world reached 2.5 billion, having just

climbed over the 2 billion mark a year ago, according to estimates from Wireless

Intelligence, a research venture that tracks the global market for mobile technology.

The sharp trajectory of growth for cell phones and the growing number of PC -like features

being incorporated into their design are fueling the theory that the cell phone is becoming

the new laptop. Here are the reasons why:

y It can e-mail. The most mundane cell phone -- the kind that comes free with a phone

plan -- has e-mail as a standard feature. It is usually carrying AOL and Yahoo!, but

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MSN's Hotmail can be accessed indirectly. The low-budget phones require multiple

number pad strokes to type individual letters, but several reasonably -priced phones

have QWERTY keyboards, the standard computer keyboard. Some brands offer

nearly full-sized keyboard attachments that connect to the phone.

y It can Web-browse. Every major cell service offers Web browsing for a few extra

dollars a month. Many sites, such as Google and MSN, format their pages for easy

cell phone reading. Cell phone companies also aggregate content, making it easy to

get the latest world, business or entertainment news on the phone.

y It is small. Traveling with electronics is cumbersome, especially for those who are

on-the-go all the time. At airports, laptops must be taken out of their bags, placed on

the security conveyor belt and gathered up on the other side of the gate. A cell

phone simply needs to be turned off at takeoff.

y It has Windows. Windows Mobile has now come into its own on portable devices.

It's getting to the point where all software -- Word, Excel, perhaps even PowerPoint -

- will be on your cell phone.

y It has Bluetooth capabilities. Also becoming a standard, Bluetooth allows your cell

phone to communicate with other phones and computers in a fast, efficient way.

Files can be transferred quickly between your computer and your cell, turning your

phone into a virtual memory stick.

y It is cheaper (f or now). The biggest threat to the bulky laptop is price. A top-of-the-

line, fancy cell phone will cost you about $600, or one -fourth the cost of a top-of-

the-line, fancy laptop. Until the mythological $100 notebook is commonplace, cell

phones are the cheaper and more efficient road to take.

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