John Forsyth, over on his Symbian blog, does a good, reasoned job at defending (or at least wisely discussing) Nigel Clifford's vision of the smartphone taking over from the PC. Smartphones probably won't be able to fulfil every role, but they might do more than the PC in your home in a few years time.
"The prerequisites for such appliances are pretty well understood: sufficient networking and discovery to be able to talk to surrounding devices and the internet, minimal configuration, support for common internet protocols and formats, possibly some local storage, and excellent product design. Since excellent product design is generally best left to specialists, it is entirely possible we will have a broad tapestry of appliances and suppliers, rather than ‘one-size-fits-none’.
Of course Symbian is focused on only one category of products within that range, and it needs to do many things right to help other companies bring the killer product designs to market. However, in being the device with by far the broadest appeal around the world, and the one that is always with you, I do think it occupies a special place. "
