IDC recently reported that shipments of non-PC devices (smart phones and tablets) will outpace PC shipments within 18 months, further stating at the end of their report that, “The PC-centric era is over.” 

As such, there has been debate regarding the validity of such a statement and speculation on what this might mean for hardware manufacturers, software and application providers, solution providers and such.  If IDC’s prediction does come true, what might be the impact on cloud computing?

According to the IDC report, “cloud services, mobile computing, and social networking – (are expected) to mature and coalesce into a new mainstream platform for both the IT industry and the industries it serves.”  This anticipated “banding” of these highly complementary technologies should, according to IDC, pave the way for IT providers and vendors to create numerous opportunities in which to profit from. For example, using your smart phone, with bar-code scanning capabilities, while shopping at the supermarket to get the best deal or to shop for healthy alternatives.  IDC expect that there will be 25 billion mobile apps downloaded in 2011.  That is a staggering number.  It is estimated that approximately 10 billion mobile apps were downloaded in 2010.

Specific to the cloud market, IDC states that, “Spending on public IT cloud services will grow at more than five times the rate of the IT industry in 2011, up 30% from 2010, as organizations move a wider range of business applications into the cloud.”  The speculation is that the mid-market, small and medium sized business will drive much of the spending in the cloud space in 2011 as they become more comfortable with issues like security and compliance.

So whether or not the PC-centric era is (or soon to be) over, cloud computing initiatives remain stronger than ever.