Reports on the Death of the Laptop...May Be Greatly Exaggerated

With the introduction of more powerful mobile devices and smartphones like the iPhone in the United States, speculation on the death of the laptop has run wild. To many, it still seems premature.

"There's no way the laptop is ever going away," says Tony Rizzo, research director of mobile technology at the 451 Group, who's followed the wireless and mobile space for many years. Rizzo and other industry watchers cite PDAs' limited form factor and small screen size as the main reasons. "There's only so much you can do on a BlackBerry," he says.

Even Mike Lazaridis, president and co-CEO of Research In Motion, BlackBerry's maker, concurs. "People are leaving behind their laptops more and more, but you can't beat the giant screen, keyboard, mouse and hard drive [on a laptop]," he says. "We never tried to replace the laptop or the desktop."