Tablets, smartphones and netbooks are rapidly overtaking personal computers. This week PC became 30 years old but it seems it is already towards the grave. Mark Dean who was one of the engineers behind the first desktop said that he had never thought that he would live to see the decline of the desktop. It is not only the engineers who are thinking that we are soon heading towards the post PC era. The buying data also show the same. Shipments of internet-enabled consumer electronic devices might soon exceed the shipments of personal computers. A survey conducted by the market research company HIS iSuppli provided data showing the same. Blu-ray players and tablets are expected to reach 504 million by 2013 as compared to 161 million last year. HIS supply has predicted that the shipments of internet enabled consumer devices will reach 781 million overshadowing the 479 million PC shipments.

These new data show that internet is no more the thing only for personal computers. Jordan Selburn, principal analyst for consumer platforms at HIS said that it is very likely that in future people will access internet through their televisions instead of their PCs. It is obvious that the desktop was never a thing of beauty. Its shape and colour were quite boring and it definitely never stood a chance against the sleek looking tablets and smartphones. The shiny notebooks, tablets and smartphones are bound to dazzle us. What accounted for the early success of the desktop was its programmable, adaptable and versatile nature. The hobbyists could carry this kit and build something incredible with it. The desktop’s success in the following decades can be owed to the exploitation of the versatility to create an enormous range of software to satisfy users of all sorts.

But now, as the needs have changed, instead of one compact device to perform multiple functions people wish to possess a different device for every function, ranging from playing music, watching video, playing games, etc. Also software and even websites are being replaced by apps. When one uses a tablet or smartphone to access the internet then one is able to access only a small confined area of the internet as compared to the vast and enormous potential of web that can be accessed using the PC. These devices are also not as open to exploring as the PC was. Usually we like things this way because it is easier. We don’t have to spend time trying to figure out things.