Verizon Says Smartphones Can Replace PCs
With the introduction of 1GHz CPUs in smartphones, the devices could replace PCs in the future claims Verizon.
During the Mobilebeat 2010 conference held in San Francisco, California, Humphrey Chen, director of new technology development at Verizon Wireless, indicated that smartphones could replace PCs in the future. more specifically, they could be hooked up to a docking station with a keyboard, camera and monitor, transforming the smartphone into a full-fledged PC replacement.
"With gigahertz processors, the divide between the smartphone and PC has narrowed," said Chen. "That's Microsoft's worst nightmare because there is no Windows or Office revenue, but there's a big Google Apps and Verizon cloud computing opportunity there."
Chen is referring to the proposed smartphone/PC setups that could access Verizon's Long Term Evolution networks currently operating in Seattle and Boston. Although only established as a trial, users are experiencing 10 Mbits/s downloads and 5 Mbits/s uploads. Naturally hooking up smartphones to a desktop-like configuration would be ideal for at-home use.
Another proposition Chen offered at the conference was to create separate consumer and business clients on a single handset. This would suggest that carriers could bill two parties for services on the device. "We are exploring virtualization technology to make that happen," he said.
Chen also revealed how much Verizon spent upgrading its network to 4G. "We spent $9 billion on 700 MHz spectrum to take coverage to the next level for 4G, and now we are spending billions of top of that to build the networks out."
Seriously, how stupid can you get. Smartphones will never replace PC's, period. PC's will continue to shrink in size, but there will always be an enthusiast market.
my netbook can't replace my desktop, how will a cell?
Anyone who's followed all areas of the mobile market segment will know that Microsoft is taking a very, very big gamble with Windows Phone 7... The complete integration of social networking and cloud access into the user interface. This goes far beyond anything any other platform is doing, almost to the point that it's frightening. It's definitely unfamiliar ground for someone like me.
Microsoft Office 2010 is also designed around the concept of cloud computing and being able to access your documents anywhere.
As far as smart phones replacing traditional PCs... that's a pretty ludicrous statement. I think that smart phones will replace traditional PCs only in the sense of how much dependence we have regarding our daily lives. I think as smart phones become more and more powerful, and the market segment follows the path that Microsoft is gambling on (seamless integration of social networking), we will find ourselves doing more and more things on our phones that we used to have to do on our PCs. Why load up my computer to post on twitter/facebook/etc. when I can do it all from my phone? Why print out directions to go somewhere when I can get live directions from my phone? But outright replacement to point of PCs become obsolete is laughable...
The quickest counter-argument is that it's a matter of form factor. We like our blockbuster games that, even with equivalently powerful hardware, simply cannot be experienced in the same way on a phone. We want to not only be able to read news and documents, but create them as well. By the time PCs have become obsolete in one way or another, it will be by something else, not the smart phone as we know it today.
Reading this quote over and over makes me laugh a bit. If this is actually what he means by a PC replacement, wouldn't you still consider your smart phone a "PC/Mac" but portable and able to make phone calls? What do I have right now... lets see here... a keyboard, camera and monitor. What a concept! Actually, I'm on a laptop... semantics. My point is, call it what you want, but it's still the same darn thing.
For several years now, the mobile computing market has been filled with ultra portables that require docking stations. No new concept here. The thing is, people didn't want to carry around all of the expensive and bulky parts of their computers that they didn't need at all times when they were on the go. When they needed their power and input devices, they docked.
Maybe I'm blind, but the only replacement I see here is the notion that we need multiple devices to do everything we need. Call it a smart phone, call it a computer that makes phone calls (I have been making phone calls from my computer for a decade), call it a cellular wireless device (laptops have had this capability for years), call it what you want. Just don't call it anything other than marketing, because the idea of having to dock a smart phone to use required peripherals is in a sense, using it as a PC (as we know it).
By the way, that "more" at the beginning should probably have it's first letter capitalized.
and any n00b who says "phones are like, completely different man!" just because they are small and use touch screens can go get bent. thats just an interface thing, and as much as apple would have you believe otherwise, its only ONE part of an OS.
Maybe some people would find that they do not need to travel with their pc, and just use their alternative device.
or a developper creating a web site... mmmm... where is alt+crtl+S?
how smartphones would ever be able to catch up to desktop or laptop tech is beyond me
they'll always be some large steps behind