John M. Wargo

I'm a big fan of Robert X. Cringely (although lately he's gotten a little flaky) and I was just reading an article he wrote called 'Pictures in our heads' that discusses the future of mobile computing from a very interesting angle.

He points out that desktop computer sales are about to peak (I believe that, but I still love having a honking fast desktop) and shows how mobile devices are advancing at a faster pace than PC's or laptops.Of note was his comment:

"This means that mobile devices are evolving twice as fast as desktops ever did.  This just about equals the rate at which wireless network bandwidth is declining in price and matches, too, the faster-than-Moore’s Law growth of back-end services."

and

"Now just imagine what it says for the smart phones to come.  In another two years they’ll be eight times as powerful as they are today, making them the functional equivalents of today’s desktops and notebooks.  If only we could do something about those tiny screens and keyboards."

Having just taken a position withing AT&T and being involved in emerging technology, I'm going to be very interested to see what happens in the next few years. My colleagues at RIM ridiculed me when I said people would be embedding bluetooth headsets into their heads so they would not need to hold a device up or could listen to music whenever they wanted - only time will tell if I'm right although I'm pretty sure it will be here soon at least for younger generations.