IBM CTO heralds end of PC era

Desktop PCs are "going the way of the vacuum tube, typewriter, vinyl records, CRT and incandescent light bulbs", according to IBM's chief technology officer for Middle East and Africa, Mark Dean. Dean, one of the 12 engineers who designed the first IBM PC 30 years ago, said that PCs are being replaced at the centre of computing. He argues that, at one time, progression and innovation was centred on PCs and how powerful they could be developed to become, but it is now new tools and services that are creating the most innovation in IT.
He claims that IBM anticipated this move when it sold its PC business to Lenovo in 2005, and has shifted its focus to schemes such as its Smarter Planet initiative and the question-and-answer technology in the Watson computer."I, personally, have moved beyond the PC," said Dean in a blog post. "My primary computer now is a tablet. When I helped design the PC, I didn't think I'd live long enough to witness its decline. But, while PCs will continue to be much-used devices, they're no longer at the leading edge of computing."

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