Smartphones Take on PCs: Significant Historical Moment
February 16, 2011By: Janice PartykaWireless Pulse, February 2011
It is a significant first, an iconic moment, a big deal. You will want to remember where you were when you heard that smartphones started to outsell personal computers. According to a report by market research company IDC, consumer electronics makers shipped 100.9 million smartphones worldwide in the last three months of 2010, an 87 percent jump from a year earlier. PC shipments didn’t do as well, edging up just three percent to 92.1 million. The falling prices of smartphones have contributed to this trend. The numbers are skewed by the longer life of a computer compared to a smartphone, which frequently is replaced within two years. For many of us, one doesn’t supplant the need for the other.
Augment my reality. I’m not the only one charmed by Wikitude (no, not WikiLeaks) from Austrian-based Mobilizy. I took a walk around a hotel parking lot with Wikitude’s Philipp Breuss-Schneeweis imagining the possibilities of Wikitude Drive, augmented-reality navigation for vehicles or pedestrians. Intended as a heads-up display, it is currently shown as a smartphone mounted on a dashboard that displays the scene ahead of you, exactly as you see it with your eyes. However, the navigation route is drawn on top of the real scene. There is an option, particularly important at night, to switch out of augmented reality to see the route as a street map. Wikitude Drive was the grand prize winner of the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge. World Browser, another product by Wikitude, identifies objects around you. Point your phone and it will (try to) identify your surroundings, such as landmarks, mountains, or buildings.
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