People are talking about the death of the PC but I think that is going too far. However, it has already started with Sony releasing a report saying that its PC sales are down in Japan. So this isn’t much of a prediction stretch.

With the rise of portable devices (lead by the iPhone and soon to be gPhone/Android) and specialized devices (e.g. music/video players, game consoles, PVRs, in-car GPS mapping systems, internet kitchen appliances, etc.) it is clear that many of the tasks for which PCs were used in the past will migrate away.

In the future, PCs will become more niche devices used only where large screens and higher computing power are needed. More like engineering workstations of the 90′s. Applications include software development, CAD, media (audio/photo/video/holographic?) creation and editing, GIS, medicine and bioinformatics, etc.

By the way, where are my wearable computing devices? They are overdue.