Given how fast technology changes and how quickly it's adopted globally, should we be surprised to hear that smartphone shipments have outpaced PCs? It's one of those things written on tech-evolution walls, isn't it?
Even if it was anticipated, and obvious, I have to say I was a bit sad reading the news... Well, perhaps, nostaglic would be a better word.
Recently, research firm Canalys.com Ltd. reported the crossover happened in 2011. Even with hyped-up tablet-type device shipments included, sexy smartphones took a noticeable lead over their rather passé computing hardware brothers. You can find all the charts and stats here, but this is the top-level take-away:
Vendors shipped 158.5 million smart phones in Q4 2011, up 57% on the 101.2 million units shipped in Q4 2010. This bumper quarter took total global shipments for the whole of 2011 to 487.7 million units, up 63% on the 299.7 million smart phones shipped throughout 2010. By comparison, the global client PC market grew 15% in 2011 to 414.6 million units, with 274% growth in pad shipments. Pads accounted for 15% of all client PC shipments in 2011.
Although 2012 may take some of the "Wow" factor out of smartphones and slow the runaway sales uptick as smartphones become more commonplace, Canalys VP Chris Jones believes this was a significant development. He said further about last year's market dynamics:
In 2011 we saw a fall in demand for netbooks, and slowing demand for notebooks and desktops as a direct result of rising interest in pads... But pads have had negligible impact on smart phone volumes and markets across the globe have seen persistent and substantial growth through 2011.
Smart phone shipments overtaking those of client PCs should be seen as a significant milestone. In the space of a few years, smart phones have grown from being a niche product segment at the high-end of the mobile phone market to becoming a truly mass-market proposition. The greater availability of smart phones at lower price points has helped tremendously, but there has been a driving trend of increasing consumer appetite for Internet browsing, content consumption and engaging with apps and services on mobile devices.
After I read the above statement, I immediately patted my laptop and said, "Don't worry, I still love you." Call me old-fashioned, but it's kind of sad to see a significant milestone like this come to pass. It's likely for the foreseeable future that many people -- myself included -- will still need and use both computing and mobile platforms and will continue to buy both tools. However, it's possible we're stepping closer to the end of the PC era. I think that deserves a moment of reflection.
I was in fifth grade in 1981 when I first laid hands on a computer keyboard. I didn't realize then what a life-changing moment it was. But, I'm grateful for the power -- and eventually, mobility -- the computer age put in my hands. It's been a good run.
That said, I guess it doesn't really matter anymore if we call the tools that make our lives run smoother and more efficiently PCs, Macs, smartphones, netbooks, or tablets. It's the technology horsepower under the hood we've all come to love.
@pocharle well, that would fit with how we read English, left to right. Perhaps someone can look into how people arrange their screens in countries that read languages right to left.
I don't see any smartphone taking the place of PC. Considering the enterprise use, smartphones can not function as PC, though when talking about HTML browsing, video streaming, GPS navigation, and third party applications especially for social networking, we can be talking of smartphone but for enterprise use, smartphone is nothing.
Diplay is always a concern. Some people prefer smaller sizes while others bigger size. I would love to have some tiny projector that can display big or small size anywhere, perhaps into the air!
So would right-handed people put the main ones and the right and left-handed people have theirs on the left? Or maybe they follow traffic conventions and always put the main on the right except for in countries that drive on the left side of the road.
Most people with more than 1 monitor know the truth... you still spend most of your time staring at ONE. You occasionally look at the second so technically, 1 would still do just fine. It is just convenient to not have to do more than change your gaze to see your 'less important' windows.
A good part of PC sales over the past decades has come from feature-rich software and OS, which consume more and more memory and processor time. With the mobile platform, the trend for software seems to be to run lean and take up less hardware resources. This has probably made the market more complacent with legacy PC technology.
Since my primary job is writing, tablets and smartphones are just too small for typing and editing. But I'm wondering about people who aren't tied to their keyboards. Salesfolk--can you live without a PC? Other road warriors?
I think tablets should be more threatened by smartphones. As blasphemous (sp?) as it sounds, a phone and laptop/PC are a necessity; a tablet is nice to have.
I find it hard to believe that the IPad or any other tablet is going to signify the end of the PC. Yes, it is going to eat into sales of PC's. One draw back to the Ipad or any other tablet is no disk drive. I still buy CD's and to upload my music i need a CD/DVD player, unlike other people I don't buy all of my music from Itunes which is what Jobs would love.
It would be interesting to see how many of these smart phone owners are also having PCs or Laptops. The results will most likely show that teh smart phones are not replacing PCs in most of the cases buy are replacing the old style mobile phones.
Si I doubt whether more smart phone sales means end of PC era.
Natural disasters wreak havoc to the tune of $100 billion in annual damages, says a UN report. To cope, companies need improved risk management strategies.
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Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
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Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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