|
|
|
Bill Gates Says Phone Is the New PC
While Bill Gates talked up the smartphone as the new
computer, Microsoft appears to be hedging its bets for emerging economies, as
the company is also pushing its desktop OS. Redmond has teamed up with Intel for
its Classmate notebook computer, for example, and unveiled a $3 software bundle
that will be available in selected markets.
Microsoft is betting on mobile phones to bring computing to developing countries. "The
phone is going to be the PC, and the PC is going to be the phone," Microsoft
chairman Bill Gates declared in his opening keynote at the Windows Hardware
Engineering Conference in Los Angeles.
Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft, stressed that
the mobile phone will become a key part of the company's strategy to bring
technology to developing countries.
"People in those rural environments are already buying computers," he said.
"They happen to call them cell phones."
Mundie suggested that, as smartphones continue to evolve into personal
computers, the current mobile phone system could become the preferred platform
for connecting to the Internet while performing tasks that users typically
associate with a traditional desktop environment.
Mundie demonstrated a system in which a smartphone environment was used to
remotely unlock access to medical care in remote rural areas.
In an attempt to overcome patient illiteracy, the system uses a series of
icons to allow the patient to describe symptoms and receive an instant diagnosis
and instructions through video clips.
The mobile phone could also become an avenue for entertainment, according to
Mundie.
"You may be able to bootstrap a lot of people into an Internet-based
experience with music and video and some type of creativity application even
before we find that they can afford [traditional PCs]," he said.
Microsoft appears to be hedging its bets for emerging economies, however, as
the company is also pushing its traditional desktop operating system.
Redmond has teamed up with Intel for its Classmate notebook computer, for example, and unveiled a $3 software bundle of Windows XP and
Office applications earlier this month that will be available in selected
markets.
Microsoft is facing fierce competition from Linux, however, most notably the
One Laptop Per Child project to ship low-cost notebooks to schools in developing
nations.
Linux vendor Red Hat unveiled a Global Desktop last week targeting computers
at small and medium sized businesses as well as governments in third world
nations.
By Shaun Nichols (Top Tech News)
Your Comments
"Information technology has outpaced any other scientific development, really the world has become a global village because of IT. To have everything in your palm...from lap to palmtop technology, is the way for the future."
Name: Jawaid Islam
Email: jaysalam@hotmail.com
City, Country: Karachi, Pakistan
|
|
 |
| Post your Comments about this News |
|
|
|
| Tech News: | Updated: February 2008 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
