This week, Google announced their latest smartphone, the Nexus One, unfortunately not available here in New Zealand.
The pricing is incredible, the equivalent of just NZ $243 with a two year contract, or NZ $718 without a contract.
Devices like this are changing the internet, and the shape of PCs.
The last big change to happen to the way we use computers was the mouse. New versions of Windows have come and gone, screens have got bigger, laptops have all got smaller, but they are all recognisable still as the same machines many of us started with.
We're now seeing another huge shift. In fact, it’s a bit of collision. From one direction, laptops are shrinking into Netbooks, and there are new smaller machines coming still. While coming the opposite way, cell phones are getting smarter - in fact I'm increasingly able to use my phone instead of my laptop for quick access to documents and email (I use an HTC TouchPro 2 running Windows Mobile 6.1 - and I found a case for it that doubles a wallet, so I only have one thing to carry around now - utterly brilliant)
Statistics out last week from metrics firm Network Applications show that 1.3% of devices that connect to the internet are phones. It doesn't sound like a lot, until you realise that Mac OSX only has 5.1% - only four times more. The numbers are growing rapidly. Obviously they aren't replacing PCs, but are instead additional devices.
The implication is that when we create emails, or web pages and so forth, we can no longer take it for-granted that the recipient is using a conventional sized screen to view it on. Chances are, they'll be using something smaller (and a bit slower). It means that our customers and business partners expect us to be even more available, and to have information at our fingertips no matter where we are. The good news is that this is also quite achievable.
While we won’t all change to mobile devices for internet access overnight, it will happen relatively quickly. And then what will be next? Machines with foldable screens?