“Apple will have a product line of pocket-size, always-with-you computers, just as hundreds of WiFi initiatives begin to take over paid cellular. This will put Apple in a uniquely strong position to drive a revolution in handheld computing,” Andrew Melcher writes for SeekingAlpha.
“Spreading WiFi coverage is creating an opening for handheld-centric computing… the convenience of always having internet and free VOIP access in your pocket will become the only decision variable. At that point, the device that can’t fit in your pocket becomes redundant and the world switches to handhelds,” Melcher writes.
“Microsoft seems completely unprepared to push its dominance with clunky computers into this new handheld realm. It will certainly need new interfaces like the iPhone’s patented keyboard and finger driven actuation. But more critically, Microsoft will need to load bloated Windows Vista (not the CE version) on an flash memory handheld. The smaller Apple OS has a critical advantage here. It will be at least another year before flash memory chips are big enough to power a standard Windows bloatware device. It seems that Windows will be stuck without next year’s absolutely-must-have functionality – platform ubiquity,” Melcher writes.
“Once a critical mass of people leaves Windows, the only source of power Microsoft ever really had (its user network) will evaporate,” Melcher writes. “At that point, Apple handhelds stop being a million user curiosity and starts looking like a $600/unit global communication standard/network that will eventually replace nearly a billion desktop computers.”
“The likes of Nokia will simply not be able to create functions valuable enough to compete with $600 (or $3,000) iPhones that are also dockable Apple computers. The cell phone manufacturers as well seem wholly unprepared to compete with Apple’s well established desktop software universe,” Melcher writes. “This change of platform is exactly what Steve Jobs has been waiting two decades for…”
Full article – recommended – here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Nathan” and “Linux Guy And Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]