The Development of the Third Tier of Personal Computing

The presentation starts with a short, but excellent overview on the general history of electronic computing. It establishes the four generations of electronic computers, with the fourth being our current generation of microprocessor based, “personal” computers. I discuss how the desktop computer established and was / is the first “tier” in personal computing. The second tier was established by the notebook (evolving from the portable, luggable, laptop, etc.). After 20+ years of struggle (handhelds, Newton, PDAs, organizers, so-called “smartphones”), the iPhone in 2007 was truly the first smartphone (with desktop quality web browser), thus establishing the third tier.