Google vice-president of Global Ad Operations John Herlihy claims that in 3 years time, desktop PCs will be irrelevant in terms of online search.  He says  in Japan most of research done is on smart phones rather than PC’s.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt, in his keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, pointed out that global sales of mobile devices is growing rapidly and would surpass that of conventional PC’s.  Google itself is focusing on mobile search and encouraged developers to do the same.

Jeff Bertolucci of PCWorld.com said that it is likely that conventional PC’s will still stay longer than what Google says because of laptops and netbooks that are replacing bulky desktops.  Also, as cost of laptops drop due to volume production, it will become more and more attractive to developing nations.

In the Philippines, more and more users prefer to purchase laptops and netbooks specially for users who need to work in more than one locations.  Combined with WiFi connectivity, access to the Internet becomes easier and is actually expected in locations like hotels and restaurants.  

Smart phones are just too small and too specialized to be real replacements of laptops or netbooks.  Google’s prediction may still be too futuristic, but the idea of smart phones and mobile devices being able to provide immediate access to online information might really push the increase in the demand for online search.

Sources:
PC World: http://www.pcworld.com/article/190745/google_europe_exec_desktop_pcs_irrelevant_in_three_years.html
http://www.geekosystem.com/google-desktop-irrelevant/
http://ca.tech.yahoo.com/blogs/the_working_guy/rss/article/4379