Cloud to overtake PCs by 2014, predicts Gartner

The PC market hasn’t been at its best for the past year or so, for there has been a noticeable slowdown, due to the increasing popularity of tablets and smartphones. The Thailand floods, last year, affected hard drive factories and that too has taken a toll on the PC market. There are those who believe that tablets will completely replace PCs, and Gartner feels that the PCs are going to be threatened by 2014, not by tablets specifically, but by the cloud. PCs are considered to be at the centre of people’s digital lives, soon the Internet and the cloud will take that place. Cloud apps and storage services will allow users to use them from any device of their choice - a PC, notebook, a smartphone or a tablet. 

Cloud to be in the spotlight by 2014

Gartner feels that the biggest change has taken place in the past two years and that the enterprises will have to figure out how future apps and services are provided to their employees. There are a number of reasons for this change. Improved mobility and dependence on mobile phones and tablets means that users have the choice of accessing the cloud from anywhere and at any given time. The cloud also offers a lot of flexibility, as compared to traditional applications. Users can choose what kind of apps they use and what kind of content they want to consume. There’s also a noticeable move from traditional desktop applications to web-based apps that are available on all popular platforms. This is a growing trend and it’s likely to speed up even more over the next few years. All these trends over the years point out to the fact that the cloud will be the most important component of our lives. PCs will be just another access medium, like smartphones and tablets are today. 

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Of course, there are some niche areas, such as mainstream gaming that will continue to be split between gaming consoles and PCs. This area, too is under attack by tablets and smartphones, as they get more powerful and offer enough performance to handle high-quality games.