For some time we thought the computer industry had reached its zenith and there would be no more groundbreaking technology to catapult it forward as in the past.
But this year, the introduction of Via's C7-M ULV and Intel's Atom processor suddenly fueled new interest -- and a jump in the sales of notebook computers.
As you must already know, the Taiwanese ASUS was the one responsible for the UMPC's explosion. Acer came a little bit later to the game, but its Aspire one netbook won a lot of hearts where this Taiwanese giant was also doing extremely well.
In the meantime, many other computer makers waited too long to jump into the race, and they have realized now that they cannot compete in price and features in this segment.
Fortunately, the price point of the netbooks and UMPC has been so attractive that demand continues to be very strong. Not surprisingly, today we have top computer makers such as Lenovo, Dell, HP, NEC, Fujitsu and hordes of others also rushing to get their netbooks out to the market.
The dynamics in the notebook market have not been concentrated in the netbook segment only. The powerful, feature-rich Media Centers have also shown healthy activity. Toshiba, for example, has been offering its multimedia entertainment-focused Qosmio for a few years. Today, it has been joined by Gemstone Blue and HP HDX. Just the opposite of the netbooks, these Media Center notebooks have big screens, great audio and a lot of weight. They also command hefty prices, too. A Toshiba Qosmio G10, for example, carries a price tag of around US$4,000!
To propel the PCs, Intel, the chipmaker, has introduced not only the low-cost Atom processor but also faster Quad Core processors. In fact, last month it launched Intel Core i7 processor, which it claims is "the fastest processor on Earth". Perhaps the most interesting feature is the so-called Turbo Boost Technology, which dynamically increases the performance of one or more of the chip's four cores to meet the need of the applications that the user is running. This helps tasks such as video editing and game development substantially.
Intel has also been aggressively pushing the Solid State Disk (SSD) as a replacement for the spinning hard disk. An SSD drive offers faster access to data, is more resilient to bumps and shakes, and consumes much less power.
The SSD drive is not targeted only to notebooks, although it is an ideal solution for battery-powered computers. Just recently, Intel and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) announced their plan to collaborate on developing SSD drives for the enterprise space. These will include Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Fibre Channel (FC) technologies. As production increases and user confidence in the technology grows, we can expect the price of the SSD drives to gradually come down. At the moment, they still cost an arm and a leg.
What about communication technologies? High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is still what the operators in Indonesia are aiming for. We all wish that the coverage were far more pervasive than it is now. The good thing is that more and more people are now using cell phones -- especially the GSM and CDMA handsets.
The handsets themselves have undergone several changes, too. The most significant is perhaps the adoption of finger touch as the method of operation, which was spearheaded by Apple through its iPod Touch and iPhone. LG also introduced the use of touch-sensitive screens on its products quite early on as it brought out its Prada KE850. Lately, we have The Cookie KP500 from LG, which features a full touch screen.
In the meantime, Samsung's Omnia also has a cool touch screen. Even Research in Motion, which revolutionized the QWERTY keypad on the smartphones, has adopted touch in its BlackBerry Storm.
A combination of a touch screen and a hardware keypad has also become common. The most formidable handset with this configuration will most likely be Nokia N97, which the Finnish company introduced during Nokia World 2008 in Barcelona in the first week of December. It certainly set a new standard for smartphones.
Meanwhile, more and more smartphones come with integrated GPS (Global Positioning System), which helps us get from Point A to Point B without too much trouble. Not too many people have made use of this powerful feature, though.
During the recent Nokia World that I attended, we had to go around and around for an hour as our bus driver had the wrong address for the restaurant where we were supposed to have dinner. There were two dozen of us on the bus, and I was sure everyone had a high-end Nokia smartphone in their pocket. None of us thought of using the GPS.
One more feature that is commonly incorporated in touch-based handsets is the use of an accelerometer, which enables the device to sense the direction and the degree of tilting. So, for example, when a handset is turned from the vertical to horizontal position, the screen will automatically change from portrait to landscape.
What can we expect for the future? First, Green will become more important -- lower power consumption, fewer emissions and fewer toxic residues in the production process. The SSD will be available with larger capacities, although they may not match the capacity of today's hard disks very soon. They will become cheaper, but slowly.
Windows 7 will be the talk of computer users, although Microsoft has to be careful as to when it can launch the new operating system. Still now, Windows XP is in demand, especially as it is the sweet spot for netbooks (in addition to Linux). If the software giant introduces it too early, people will tend to skip Windows Vista, particularly because Windows 7 incorporates responses to the wishes of Windows Vista users.
Technology will always march forward. However, there is one thing that we must keep in mind: Technology should be our servant.
In the wake of the terrorist attack in Mumbai recently, for example, we witnessed a variety of technologies being used to bring us eyewitness accounts through CNN and the like. Those who were there as the attack was unfolding were able to send in their videos using their mobile phones, for instance. "This demonstrates how technology can serve us and not the other way around," a good friend reminded me.
I completely agree with him. Technology, no matter what the area is, should remain our enabler.
