豆知识 2011-12-25&12-31 移动设备超越个人电脑

 Many tech folk think we’ve entered what Steven Jobs liked to call “a post-PC era”. This doesn’t mean that PCs are about to disappear. Shipments of them will keep growing, especially in emerging markets hungry for computing¹ power. But smartphones and tablet computers are putting PCs in the shade. This year combined shipments of two devices are likely to outstrip² those of PCs for the first time, and they will keep growing strongly. In many rich countries, smartphones now outnumber more basic feature phones. And in emerging markets, such as China and India, they are expected to catch up with feature phones, too. 

 

 

 

Downloadable software applications or apps have helped to make these tablets and smartphones so popular. Almost 18 billion apps will be downloaded this year and that number will soar as more mobile devices are sold. Many of these apps are free, but a few are used regularly. One study found that the 10 most popular Android apps accounted for 43% of all usage, and the top 50 for almost two thirds of it. 

 

 

 

As mobile gadgets³ have become more powerful, they’re being used more at work. In 2010, 31% of devices used by information workers to access things such as spreadsheets and customer databases with their own, this year that number leapt to 41%, partly because of the impact of tablet computers. TechTypes refer to this as “the consumerization of IT”. 

 

 

 

Although the number of PCs in use has risen over time, all sorts of mobile, web connected devices are now taking off. Some 10 billion of these could be in circulation by the end of the decade. This will produce an explosion of mobile data. By 2015, some 6.3 exabytes of the stuff will be zipping around each month, which is the equivalent of 63 billion copies of the Economist⁴. Fortunately, much of this mobile data will be in the form of videos like the one you're watching now. It promises to be an eye-opening new era in the world of personal technology.

1 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

2 outstrip   

v.超过，跑过

参考例句：

• He can outstrip his friend both in sports and in studies.他能在体育和学习方面胜过他的朋友。
• It is possible for us to outstrip the advanced countries in the world.我们能超过世界上先进的国家。

3 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

4 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。