Will small, powerful, connected-to-everything devices become the personal computer?
To some extent, and to certain audiences, it already is. Currently we are witnessing the new operating system wars breaking out on the mobile platforms, between Blackberry, Google Android, Iphone, Microsoft, and Nokia Symbian. This is because the greatest volume in terms of devices is in the mobile space. This is caused by the fact a great number of devices is in the mobile space.
For the younger generation today, time on mobile platforms, whether texting, “facebooking”, searching, or interacting with the thousands of other apps that connects them to people, content, or anything else of interest is often exceeding the time they spend on their notebook or desktop PC. Mobile operating systems are starting to offer the same capabilities for application developers that could only be done before on PC OSs. Of course, the processor power keeps improving as well. The amount of ingenuity and creativity that software developers are putting into mobile applications are exceeding what is being done for PC platforms.
With currently available technologies it is entirely possible for a small handheld device such as a Smartphone to be able to have additional features such as:
1. Processors, RAM & storage as powerful as a PC;
2. Projection monitor (where you can use any flat surface to work as your monitor of any reasonable size that you need at the moment);
3. Projection Keyboard (instead of a large keypad, the keyboard is projected on to any surface and you just have to type there).
The only constraint for such a device I guess would be a portable power source.
