Kennedy continues, “Speaking at the Digital Landscapes conference at UCD, Herlihy said that the cloud-computing opportunity will make sure that every mobile device will be capable of doing rapid-scale applications. ‘In three years time, desktops will be irrelevant. In Japan, most research is done today on smart phones, not PCs.’ Herlihy [echoed] comments by Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the recent GSM Association Mobile World Congress 2010 that everything the company will do going forward will be via a mobile lens, centring on the cloud, computing and connectivity.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: In three years desktops will be irrelevant? For most people, we’d have to agree.
I would tend to agree! I use my iPhone a hundred times more than my i7 iMac.
If only my iPhone could drive this 30 inch screen!
What about the mobile desktop?
I bet Google’s sales chief doesn’t play MMOs. TOR on an iPad?! I don’t think so ….
Um, no…..we have seen how the “predictions” of the sales people do. And it is NOT well….
@ericdano
I Agree! Where’s my flying car?
Not for me it won’t. As a 3D motion graphics artist / video editor, I am in constant need of the most powerful desktops I can get my hands on. This prediction, if it holds true, spells bad things for my future, as desktop use becomes more niche, development slows, and prices skyrocket.
’twill be a dark day indeed….
NOT! Only if mobile can be as powerful as a desktop will they ever be irrelevant. I don’t see that happening at all, certainly not in 3 years. Maybe 30 years. The main problem with making a mobile device as powerful as a desktop is power consumption and cooling.
Neither has been solved as of yet.
Yes, in three years time, instead of working at my desk, I’ll walk up and down the corridor carrying my iPad. It’s so much easier to type standing up, and who needs folders anyway?
this won’t happen (as quickly) if data plans continue as they are…
the fact this was a google guy, people actually quoted him. All he did was say the obvious and gave a vague timeline…
i too envision in 3 years… Fatter people, more disease, etc…
Yeah they mean iPhones and iPads
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> bring it on !
I agree it’s moving that way but not in three years. The infustructure of the internet, wireless and networks in the US is not there and won’t be there in three years. Japan and some other countries maybe, the US no way. Sure, the technology and software will be there but the implementation and adoption will be many years out.
I can think of many wonderful thing that don’t ever move forward because of cost and adoption. If that was the case, we’d all have solar homes, in home fibre optics and hydrogen vehicles.
Nope, not three years.
Ridiculous.
I’ve been hearing that for 20 years now.
Nah, The arrival of the iPad will make an iMac a more attractive machine as the other part of a desktop/ultra mobile platform duo.
Screw your laptop. An iMac and an iPad will be the way to go. They’re both better at what they do best, over a laptop and together they will cost about as much as a Macbook Pro.
Desktops will be with us for a good while longer.
Great, just what I need! It is nice to think ahead and “utopize” to delirium. How about a 30″ iMac foldable into an 2×3″ iPhone, or rollable into a 10″ pen (also usable as a massage tool)?
@ iQuack-
to paraphrase Avery Brooks in an IBM commercial in 2000…
“It is the year 2010. But where are the flying cars? I was promised flying cars! I don’t see any flying cars! Why? Why? …Why?!”
no flying cars… yet. but we can look forward to Star Trek-y looking iPads in a few weeks time!!
@ Constant Refresher
Totally agree – until I can get a tablet that’s big and powerful enough to do heavy image editing on. Then I’ll have little use for an iMac either. Laptops are a gap-stop that have worked well enough, but their days are numbered.
Now I’m facing a quandary – a friend is in the market for a 24″ iMac and he said he’d buy mine rather than a refurb, and with my tax refund I’ll finally be able to upgrade. But do I really want to buy a new iMac right now?
I do, but I’m not sure what’s coming… are touchscreen iMacs still far off? The iPad has thankfully solved my portable problem, but I’ll still need a Lightroom/Photoshop machine. What to do…
Stop gap? Yeah… it’s early. Shut up, Ampar. =P
How many million play WoW on a daily basis? How many more play weekly? Now add in a number of other games … like that new Star Trek game that bears more than a slight similarity to WoW, or any of the first-person-shooters.
I have sat in front to the TV with my MacBook in my lap and played WoW during the ads. That 13″ screen is amazingly crisp, but the input – the keyboard and scratch pad – cannot compete with a mouse and keyboard to make it a positive game experience. OK, just about good enough for checking in-game mail and working the Auction House.
I dunno, I can’t imagine a whole bunch of folks without desktops… certainly laptops/mobile computing and smart phones/devices are going to keep growing, but I think the desktop will remain as the basis for most work.
The laptop is the endangered species, not the desktop.
@C1
I’d like to see Gap stopped too. They’re wicked expensive.
No new iMacs for at least 3-4 months.
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
BTW: rather than the death knell of DESKtops, could this not be the death knell of Net Books, and Ultra-lights? And maybe low-powered portables of all descriptions? The iPad, as currently expected, is far from a replacement for any of these when they are worked at their hardest, but how many come close to that? And … how long will the iPad be as anemic as the intro model is expected to be? As the iPad gets buffer, and as cloud computing takes over, it will be better able to replace more of the functions of a larger/heavier portable. In three years? I’d rather offer five, but three could do it.
@willieG
as a content creator also, consumers not having desktops will be our boon. No more ‘nephews’ dabbling in graphics and undervaluing our work. There will only be limited places to get the graphics that drive all consumer content.
I’m one who still needs a new 12 core Mac Pro with 20GB ram. woohoo!!!
@ chano
Yeah, I looked at that a few days ago. I think I’m going to just go with the 27″ i7 like I’ve been wanting to for a while. Just waiting for the lousy socialist government to give me my money back.