-Mahesh R Kurup
For the past few years, we can see many leading manufacturers have said goodbye to their laptop business. I am not thrilled by this announcement as this was expected by us much before. Actually PC computing devices saw the first surge when multimedia was introduced. The next upswing came when internet-based applications became the main thrust of business computing.
With increase in security of internet-based applications, people’s reliability on using internet has also increased simultaneously. Hence, internet has become the new form factor for personal computing devices. Laptops sales saw a big jump, going way ahead of desktops, when internet and mobile-based internet become the main factor of application.
Among the two biggies who ruled the world of technology, one was a leading hardware chip manufacturer and the other was a leading OS maker. These two companies took control over the business of the hardware and laptops.
Three things are now happening in this PC computing world: First, social media with fast and responsive computing devices has become the sole focus for many. Secondly, mobile devices have started shifting from telephony to data, and on a technology perspective, the ARM architecture based processing mobile computing devices and Android have gained mileage. Companies focusing on Social and Mobile are witnessing rapid growth, beating the conventional leaders in hardware and software.
When the seven inch and above smart phones were introduced, users found them convincing as a mobile computing devices. And this brought in a big change in usage patterns as consumers started moving from laptops to mobile phone factors for social media and other applications. This turnaround was a shock for the leading hardware processor and OS manufacturers who were left chasing these new technologies. A number of conventional PC manufacturers were left behind in the race.
Because of these changing trends, I believe, laptops will continue to face a downslide in sales. The PC would gradually come to be seen as a limited application utility product, and will be preferred by people who do not use mobile computing. Smartphones and tablets will gain popularity in the era of mobile computing. Therefore, channel partners who get their major business from laptops have to realize that it is the end of the road for laptops.
(The author is the CEO of Ozone Computers, Coimbatore and can be reached at mahesh@ozonecomputers.net. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the views of Channel Times or any of the websites managed or operated by Trivone Digital Services)