2008 Jump Point: Notebooks Overtake Desktop Computers

The new year will see more records fall than a New England Patriots game. First up is mobility. Data for 2007 show that sales of notebook computers have surpassed--or very shortly will surpass--sales of desktop units. No surprise here: the trend has been developing for sometime now; although if true, it would be a milestone that arrived several years ahead of forecast.

Given the inevitability of the trend, we should begin to look ahead to the wider implications of this rather significant Jump Point. First, the mobility imperative will clearly support the continued roll out of commercial WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). High quality mobile computing and communications is a virtual certainty around the world. This opens up all manner of possibilities for emerging economies and for changing how we live, work and play. I will explore the impact on the emerging world later. Appropriate of back to work day, let's consider how our professional lives will start to change this year.

We can expect remote work, education and collaboration to grow. Fewer people will slog off to a physical office, and location-neutral hiring will increase as companies find and recruit the right people for their jobs, regardless of locality. We will grow increasingly comfortable working for and with people we rarely if ever see in person. Mobile work is more productive work, meaning work days will become less rigid but longer. Work as we know it may get more seamlessly integrated into life as we know it. The drop in office culture will change the way we socialize and communicate. There will be fewer annoyances, but perhaps more loneliness too. Might even change our collective senses of humor--remote employment makes situation comedy settings like The Office, a relic of "old work." (Of course, there will always be a way for the Dwight Schrutes of the world to pepper our lives.) Something to think about as you take down the holiday decorations from your cubicle. Happy New Year.

Comments

[Valdis]

Yes, but... there is this complication... our human-ness. http://www.networkweaving.com/blog/2007/07/1-day-f2f-1000-emails.html

[Small Business Marketing]

Humans are supposed to be gregarious. So if we remove the sociability aspect of the workplace we will need to increase it in our non-workplace lives. However as technology drive social networking more and more online this also reduces our opportunities to socialize. We will become non-humans that much more quickly.

[mark mcclure]

Are the Corporate Services and Real Estate folks actively planning for this brave new portable workspace world in the US?

In Japan, face-to-face is still very much valued as a way of doing daily business.

[mark mcclure]

Are the Corporate Services and Real Estate folks actively planning for this brave new portable workspace world in the US?

In Japan, face-to-face is still very much valued as a way of doing daily business.