Smartphones and tablets will spell the end of the PC era in the next 18 months

According to a forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC), 2011 will be the year of the tablets and smartphones. Smartphone sales are expected to rise 22% to 330 million sold next year as more people make the transition away from feature phones. Tablets will also hit 42 million sales in 2011- with the market being flooded by Apple’s competitors looking to outsell the iPad. But Apple will remain in the lead whereas the low-cost tablets could do well in emerging markets. The report ends with a remarkable statement- “The PC-centric era is over.” The IDC predicts that within the next 18 months, non-PC devices running software will outsell PCs. There’s no telling if the report will come true or not, but if it does happen, our lives will be pretty different in the near future. Can you imagine living a life without desktop computers? Sounds pretty far-fetched to me but then again, anything could happen in 18 months. What are your thoughts on these predictions?