Laptops are outselling desktop machines (by a huge margin) and tablets (iPads, specifically) are being used to replace laptops by more and more people.
I can see a time within a couple years (yeah, that soon) where the only computer most people will need will be an iPhone.
Sidebar: Yeah, someone using Android could pull off what I’m suggesting, but Apple has a proven track record of doing more cool things. Sorry, just a fact.
A “home computer” could consist of a monitor and a keyboard — and your iPhone. Sit down in front of the keyboard and connect your iPhone to the monitor — that could be as simple as tapping the phone against the the monitor. It’s wireless — and iPhones can already mirror what’s on their screens.
And iPhones already talk to Bluetooth keyboards. So right now, today, you can actually do 90% of what I’m talking about.
What’s missing is a way to use a touchpad to control the “cursor” on the screen — of course, while the iPhone is sending its signal to the HDTV/monitor, it could be used as a regular touchpad that controls an on-screen cursor, so that piece is easy for Apple to add.
Your iPhone is powerful enough to do 100% of what 90% of people use computers for:
- Listening to and watching audio/video
- Reading
- Browsing web sites
- Using Facebook
- Playing games
Am I missing anything? Isn’t that about the extent of what *most* people do with a computer?
With a system like that in place you could be at someone’s house and check your email, update your Facebook status, etc., without needing to log in and out of someone’s computer — because you’re using the computer in your pocket.
Make the monitors just a little bit “smart” so they can watch for nearby iPhones and when you walk up to one it can ask if you want to connect — wirelessly, of course.
Right now I can do a lot of my computing on my iPhone and/or iPad but I have different data on those devices than on my desktop computer. Cloud storage helps with that problem to some extent, but I’m looking forward to the day when someone (Apple, probably) puts all the pieces together into a really compelling package.