Top 10 PC, mobile and tablet stories of 2013 so far
The definitive breakdown of this year's hottest topics in the world of PC, laptop, mobile and tablet
As the consumerisation of IT takes a tighter grip on IT users' daily lives, and BYOD becomes an increasingly common way to work, the importance placed on developments in the devices market has grown, even in the last six months.
Here are Computing's 10 most hard-hitting stories in this period, covering everything from device launches to patent wars to stock price plummets in a market whose capacity for rapid change is matched only by the huge demand for its output.
10 - Apple launches iPad Mini - upstages Microsoft, but joins zeitgeist
Apple launched the iPad Mini back in October 2012 which, while it fair took the wind out of Microsoft's promotion of its Surface RT – which hit the streets just before – was arguably also the first time Apple hadn't so much innovated as jumped on the bandwagon with a tablet to try and take on 7in devices like Google's Nexus 7.
9 - USB stick inventor declares his own invention dead
It's a sign of the times when even the inventor of the USB flash drive, Dov Moran, sounds the death knell for his own product.
Still, it's perhaps no wonder Moran wants to push the benefits of the cloud, moving as he is into an Android-based cloud TV business. But the fact remains: April 2013 was the date when the humble USB storage device was officially saluted to its grave in the first world, and officially downgraded it to developing world technology. "It's only just getting to South America, which is quite amazing," laughed Moran.
8 - ESSA academy shows off the future of IT in education
While Computing had reported on Bolton-based secondary school ESSA Academy's futuristic approach to education, it was only when we got our cameras there that we witnessed the true effect 600 iOS devices can have on teaching.
With a ‘hot-desking' approach to educational spaces, VoIP communications throughout the premises and paper textbooks almost non-existent, ESSA has become an international template of the future of education when technology is thoughtfully embraced.
7 - Google Glass prepares to up the devices ante
"Project Glass" – or Google Glass at it came to be known – looked for a year or so like nothing more than a bulky, science fiction fantasy from the company who brought you the self-driving car and ill-faited social network Google Buzz.
But as the technology began to fall into the hands of specially-recruited testers, and daily life with the device began to be recorded and shared, it has become clear that Google Glass could be a serious innovation. It certainly carries more weight as ‘the next best thing' than a handful of mobile phone-syncing watches, which seems to be all the competition can manage right now.
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Top 10 PC, mobile and tablet stories of 2013 so far
The definitive breakdown of this year's hottest topics in the world of PC, laptop, mobile and tablet
6 - The little guys win Mobile World Congress, as Mozilla announces Firefox OS
While Ubuntu was technically just as impressive with its Ubuntu Mobile platform, there was something iconic about Mozilla – known increasingly only as the company which made the browser people used to use - appearing at Mobile World Congress with not only its own Mobile OS, but its own phone to run it on.
Partnering with Chinese phone maker ZTE, Mozilla showed off an orange-hued, mid-tier smartphone sporting a silky-smooth bespoke platform and UI.
While aimed primarily at emerging markets, a batch of sub-$100 smartphones with all the expected features could have all kinds of interesting possibilities for an IT manager.
Watching a company like Mozilla steal the show with this product, rather than everybody bowing to the excitement of the latest Samsung Galaxy phablet was a memorable experience.
5 - Surface RT sells just 1.5m units in four months
Microsoft launched its ARM-powered tablet-with-detachable keyboard in November 2012, to little consumer or enterprise fanfare. At £479, it didn't stand a chance against the £399 iPad on a consumer level, and Computing is yet to find an enterprise IT manager taking up a fleet of RTs across a company as productivity devices.
The enduring problem lies in the device's inability to function with standard Windows (Win32) applications, meaning the current crop of Windows 8 software, plus anything in Microsoft's history since the year dot, will not work on the machine.
While Microsoft still argues that the Windows App Store should be enough, the vicious circle of user unwillingness to engage leading to developer unwillingness to code for the store means Surface RT is still a tough sell.
4 - Samsung £5.1bn quarter results show 500 smartphones sold every minute
Samung published record sales figures in January 2013, boasting £5.1bn profit in those three short months, while supposed rival HTC reported a 90 per cent dip in its own sales.
It was perhaps the moment that Samsung itself became the true crown king of Android, and became more immediately linked with the brand than platform originator Android. With hype for its next device, the Samsung Galaxy S4, in overdrive, all that was left was for Samsung to settle its numerous legal contretemps with Apple, of which we shall read more later...
3 - AMD ARM license shakes up PC devices market in ongoing war with Intel
At the end of May, it transpired that AMD has become a licensee of microprocessor cores by ARM, meaning mass production of 64-bit ARM microprocessors, and an interesting future for both ARM and AMD in the PC market.
It could spell a turning point for Intel's fortunes in the space, too, but the real difference between ARM and Intel isn't so much the technology, as the business models.
As Intel continues its vertical approach of designing, making and marketing its own tech, will ARM's scattergun approach of licensing its designs and IP win out in the end?
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Top 10 PC, mobile and tablet stories of 2013 so far
The definitive breakdown of this year's hottest topics in the world of PC, laptop, mobile and tablet
2 - Samsung finally beats Apple in long patent dispute
The US International Trade Commission judged in June 2013 that the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 infringed Samsung patent rights, bringing to an end a long-standing dispute between the two technology giants in multiple global territories. Samsung described the verdict as confirming "Apple's history of free-riding on Samsung's technological innovations".
1 - BlackBerry 10 launches with a whimper
It was perhaps inevitable that this story would take the top spot, but BlackBerry 10's January 2013 launch, and after-effects, has kept the column inches flowing in the enterprise technology market.
Once the de facto standard for an enterprise phone, BlackBerry owners proudly sported squat, qwerty keyboard-equipped black handsets that were great for email, impeccably secured – and useful for little else.
As the mobile world mutated into a shiny, spinning apple, BlackBerry simply sat back and looked puzzled, talking of a new BlackBerry solution since the company's purchase of UNIX-based OS QNX back in 2010.
But after several delays, which BlackBerry seemed to have trouble accounting for in the run-up to the actual release, even bringing Alicia Keys (who was spotted tweeting from an iPhone only days after the BlackBerry Z10 launch) on board as a creative director couldn't save a launch that offered up a phone, and a platform, without anything particularly new to offer the world.
This is the tragedy with BlackBerry 10. While its two flagship devices - the touchscreen smartphone-equipped Z10 and the more enterprise-friendly, keyboard-based Q10 - are not bad phones in the slightest, there's just no longer any particular reason for a discerning IT pro to adopt them beyond the iPhone they probably have in their pocket.
Even BlackBerry 10's security and much-vaunted data siloing technology can be problematic, requiring companies take on BlackBerry 10 software at server-side; something not many CIOs already wrestling with multiple MDM solutions to cover a wider range of devices are always willing to take on.
Even at the time of writing in late June 2013, a Bernstein Research analyst has just downgraded BlackBerry's stock to "underperform" and the company has lost another four per cent value.
It can't go on, and what seems to be turning into BlackBerry's slow bleed-out will be an ongoing source of interest to those observing an ever-evolving mobile landscape.
Mobile is simply taking no prisoners as consumerisation and BYOD potential continues to drive users' value judgement, as old standards like security and built-in physical keyboards lose favour.