The PC is now the "old man" of the tech world, at 25 years, but the model is no less dominant. Many have been predicting the death of the PC for some time now, because it is both very simple, lots of standardized parts, and quite complex, with lots of customized software. That simplicity has led to commoditization and the complexity has led to security problems, not all of which are caused my Microsoft.
Although mobile phone makers would like to think themselves different, a company in Norway, Trolltech, is offering a "greenphone" and a related development environment. Based on Linux, everything on the phone can be customized by developers to create new uses and applications.
For phone makers, this could well mark the beginning of the end of being different from the PC. GSM/GPRS chipsets are highly commoditized and unlocked phones are becoming common even in the US market. A thriving market in standardized phones with open software environments could drive down prices and improve innovation - just like the PC did.
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