These days much of the action in the world of gadgets is happening in smartphones — like their sophisticated design and the apps that run on them. That has left desktop and laptop computers looking a little dull in comparison, so computers are suddenly getting more phone-like.
Microsoft and Apple are leading the charge in this area. On Wednesday, Microsoft took the wraps off its latest operating system for computers and tablets, Windows 8, which mimics the look and feel of the company’s new software for phones. Apple recently offered a preview of its next operating system for Macs, incorporating familiar elements from the iPhone and iPad.
“All of the major innovation for PCs is coming from the mobile phone,” said Tim Coulling, an analyst at the research firm Canalys.
The companies hope this strategy will give them added leverage in the market for tablets and smartphones, which is growing to rival the market for personal computers. It could also help them sell more computers or, in Microsoft’s case, software for computers.
For example, people who buy an iPad or iPhone might be more inclined to also buy a Mac computer if they work together seamlessly and have features that operate the same way on both devices. For Apple, which still has only a small share of the computer business, that could be a big advantage.
In Microsoft’s case, it needs to defend its traditional dominance of the PC operating system business with software that is versatile enough to also run on tablet computers.
Apple and Microsoft share an enemy in Google, which has the most popular cellphone operating system in Android, but does not have a strong presence in software for computers. Part of Google’s strategy is to make up for that by offering sites and services on the Web that tie in with Android devices. This week the company unveiled a version of its Web browser, Chrome, that lets users synchronize their Web searches between their mobile devices and computers.
In the case of Apple’s next version of its computer operating system, called Mountain Lion, the company has added several features that were previously mobile-only. It has revamped the Mac’s iChat software to be called Messages and made it work with the iMessage texting software on iPads and iPhones. Mountain Lion, which is scheduled for release this summer, will also include Notification Center, a mobile feature that consolidates incoming e-mail messages, chat messages and -online friend requests into a single window pane.
With Windows 8, which became available in a preview version on Wednesday, the inspiration Microsoft is drawing from its Windows Phone software for smartphones is striking. Windows 8 uses the same touch-friendly interface that Microsoft uses in Windows Phone. The interface, known as Metro, features a mosaic of tiles that can be tapped to start up applications, and that often spring to life with photos, e-mails and other content from the Internet.
Windows 8 is intended to run both on tablet devices operated exclusively through a touchscreen and on more traditional computers controlled mainly by a keyboard and mouse. Microsoft executives have said that the software works equally well either way.
In addition, Windows 8 users will be able to switch from the Metro interface to a more -traditional-looking Windows desktop if users want.
Bill Flora, a former Microsoft designer who was involved in creating Metro, said the company needed to give users both options because it does not want to alienate the vast number of people who are used to the traditional Windows appearance.
“It is such a huge aircraft carrier they are trying to move,” Flora said. “They want to carry people along rather than make a clean break.”
At Microsoft’s event Windows division president Steven Sinofsky described Windows 8 as a “generational change” in how the company views its suite of products, because of the way it creates a “unified OS experience across devices.”
It was the company’s hope that the new software would dazzle consumers. “It’s an awesome opportunity for us,” Sinofsky said.
Apple has 64 percent of the global market for tablets and Android claims 32 percent, while Microsoft has less than 2 percent, according to recent data from Canalys. When it comes to smartphones, Microsoft has just 1.5 percent, while Apple has 19 percent and Android claims close to half the market.
“The PC is less relevant, and that means so is Windows,” said Michael Gartenberg, an industry analyst with Gartner. “Microsoft has to think about what that means for their future.”
For both Apple and Microsoft, tying together computers and mobile devices sets them up to charge monthly subscriptions for cloud-based services like data storage, music or movies, that work across devices. “It is no longer about one screen, but access to the collection of services through a collection of screens,” Gartenberg said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
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