A constant debate that rages on is whether the hand held, be it a palm top, a PDA or even a mobile phone, replace the PC (reference here to the notebook or occasional desktop)?
Yes, it will take over a lot of functions, and to that matter, might really help the user organize their life better, but can a user just live with their mobile device? In my opinion – no. There is a great dependence on the computer, either in the form of the notebook or desktop. There is a greater inclination towards mobility and hence the notebook might score more points over the desktop, however, there will always be a requirement for a pivotal point in ones life, and that will be the computer.
Technologically, the handheld (again, my opinion) will be able to bring a certain amount of processing power to the the user, however, there is a limit in the capabilities of this processing power. a whole new platform needs to be created to achieve the same level of technological competence that has been achieved on the PC Platform over 20 years. To that effect, the same platform has achieved quite a lot in this short span of time.
The iPhone heralded in a new era, some agree, some dont, but I believe that this one platform has enabled a host of creativity unleashed, that was similar to the windows 95/98 application era. The users crave applications that can take care of their particular needs, be it an excercise regime creator or simply sudoku – but the bottom line is there is a market for demand and thus there will be supply.
With the ICE age of the mobile phone approaching and moreso even peaking (the Information, Communication and Entertainment) the dependence on the mobile device to carry out one’s primary goal of information gathering will replace a user’s dependence on the PC, however, for most other purposes and record keeping, the PC will still rule.