Microsoft VP Announces the End of the PC

As Microsoft completed its purchase of Nokia Devices and Services, Stephen Elop, former Nokia CEO and now executive vice president of the Devices Group at Microsoft, weighed in on the end of the PC:

“The vast majority of people do not have, nor will they ever have a personal computer,” Elop said. “They haven’t been exposed to Windows or Office, or anything like that, and in their lives it’s unlikely that they will. And yet through the mobile phone business we have an opportunity to introduce what we like to call the next billion people, the next billion people to connect to the Internet, to Microsoft, because they’ll have an opportunity perhaps to have a first Skype experience, or a first experience with Bing, as an example. And so there are literally billions of people who can be exposed to Microsoft for the very first time.”

Even if Elop is being a bit hyperbolic here, his perspective should certainly stir the pot for those of us who conceive of digital communication primarily in terms of large screens and desktop or notebook computers.