Securing a Mobile World

Introduction In August of 2011 Hewlett Packard, the world’s largest seller of PCs, confirmed it was looking to sell off its personal computing business—possibly getting out of the hardware game altogether and dropping its tablet and smartphone operations as well. This event along with IBM’s decision in 2004 to sell its PC business line to Lenovo, a China-based firm, is a harbinger that the low-margin PC business may not be worth pursuing. Concurrently the rise of alternatives to traditional PCs, the tablet(s), continues unabated—with forecasts through 2011 at 60 million tablets and in 2012 to be 90 million units [1]. There still will be over 100 million PCs sold worldwide for several years because people need them for certain tasks [2]. Many of the habits we associate with personal computers can be carried out with touchscreen and an Internet connection— done anywhere, and quickly. The iPhone has demonstrated what could be done with a relatively small device that could single task very well. With Android and Apple netbooks being circulated, this idea of a small, relatively inexpensive device connected to back-end services is the leading edge of a paradigm-shifting platform—along with the application layer in the private cloud [3]. According to Brodkin [4], “since the personal computer debuted in 1971, a Darwin-esque evolution process has lifted the PC from modest beginnings to its prevailing role as an indispensable part of life in the 21st century” ... “evolving from clunky commercial flops to slick, high-powered machines that play a vital role in our daily lives, both for work and play.” Personal computers have been the technology engine drivers from Intel to Microsoft to Dell to HP to Google to Facebook. But the rise of mobile computing is upending the technology business and is simultaneously redefining what is a personal computer and how we use it [1, 5]. This paper is a sector case study that seeks to examine the development, evolution, and diaspora of the personal computer. The remainder of this paper proceeds as follows. First, we present an overview of the IDT model and discuss innovation characteristics. Then we categorize the personal computer from multiple perspectives using this as a framework. Finally, we comment on the direction, durability, and mutations (the diaspora) of the personal computer using Ansoff’s model of diversification. Overview of Diffusion of Innovation Diffusion of innovation theory [6] describes the process through which new ideas, practices, or technologies are spread into a social system. According to Murray [7], diffusion of innovation theory holds that innovation diffusion is a general process, not bound by the type of innovation studied, by who the adopters are, or by place or culture, such that the process through which an innovation becomes diffused has universal applications to all fields that develop innovations. Diffusion is defined as the process in which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. Innovation is an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption. In addition, innovation also does not necessarily mean better or that the new idea is more beneficial to an individual. Whereas innovation can refer to something abstract, like an idea, it can also be concrete, like a new piece of technology. This article focuses specifically on the personal computer as a particular type of innovation of interest. Rogers [6, 8] suggested that there were/are four main elements in the diffusion process: • The innovation • The communication channels through which the innovation is diffused • Time • The social system