The # 1 Killer of Desktop Computers: The Tablet PC

2011 begins a new age of computing: The Age of the Tablet PC. Desktops and laptops are being replaced at a staggering rate by new and powerful tablet PC' s . What does this mean for the future of business computing ? Different ages of human history are referenced by the technologies that were developed during the period , then naming that period after that technology-most of which changed humanity for the better . Well , now it is time to usher in the Tablet PC Age. Internet access is the single most defining and salient human interaction in history . Imagine the time when written language was first developed and the power that learning that written language gave to those who understood it . No , imagine the impact of a translator that was given to everyone else . The Tablet computer is the balance of access , ease, and mobility that has been the holy grail of the digital world for many years. Yes , it is fair to say that Apple started the rage with the iPhone but only the rage, not the technology. It can be just as easily said that Nicholas Negroponte was part of the inspiration with the One Laptop Per Child initiative . The fact is that 70 different tablets at the recent Consumer Electronics Show International is the opening bell . The Laptop and Desktop are History So far , the big players are Samsung and Motorola on the Android side and Apple on the Apple side. With rumors of iPad 2 . 0 and the iPhone 5 fueling excitement that Apple will retain its lead , and the Samsung Galaxy Tab , as well as the Motorola Xoom setting the stage for the rise of Android, 2011 has already been declared the unofficial Year of the Tablet PC. They , the industry pundits , are already producing statistics to prove that the laptop is already history and on the decline . The desktop is history as the laptop has already replaced it , and with the tablet replacing laptops, they have nowhere else to go. This will be the year that, with an expected billion or so new mobile devices to go on line , Ipv 4 addresses will running out, so Ipv 6 is getting underway just in time . The argument that tablets are just big screen smartphones is passé , as they are and that is the entire point . Smartphones broke open the idea of real mobile Internet access and the tablet PC is the next logical step allowing the best of both worlds, on the go . With all of that touchscreen , minority report coolness, and swiping speed of use , we are destined to become the first to live in the Tablet Age. This is the age of ubiquitous , ever -present Internet . The Future from the Past Way back in 1995 , Time Magazine published the now famous "500 Channels" cover; one of the subjects discussed was the future convergence . Convergence was the concept that television and Internet would someday be merged or "Converged" into a single , unified media. Now we know that the tablet PC is the device that will present this new unified media to us, as we hurry to class or work- not in the car though. Soon , keyboarding will begin to become a forgotten art as we Swype our letters and email out. The mouse will be in a museum, and our fingers will do much more than walking . Perhaps the industry held off until profitability could be assured, but no more , the tech is here and beginning to change the face of information itself. Keep watching as those 70 new tablet PC models multiply by the thousands and many more , the age of the $ 99. 00 Android tablet for sale at Wal-Mart dawns. Bob T . Wilson is the technology writer at velocity guide, a site dedicated to keeping its readers informed of the constant advances in mobile computing technology and Broadband Internet .