Apple and Microsoft redesign computer interfaces to mirror phones
Not too long ago, people used to refer to smart phones as little computers we carry around in our pockets and purses. Soon, we may be likening our computers to large phones. That's because designers of operating systems at industry leaders Apple and Microsoft are now borrowing the look and feel of iPhones and Windows Phone software, respectively, as they reinvent the PC.
In a report from the Mobile World Congress trade show that took place this week in Barcelona, Spain, New York Times reporters Jenna Wortham and Nick Wingfield analyze how successful user-friendly elements from smart phones are making their way into the next generation of laptops (and tablets, of course).
The forthcoming version of Apple's operating system, Mountain Lion (expected to be released in summer 2012), "will...include Notification Center, a mobile feature that consolidates the cacophony of incoming e-mail messages, chat messages and online friend requests into a single window pane" and other iPhone (and iPad)-influenced features, Wortham and Wingfield wrote.
"With Windows 8, which became available in a preview version on Wednesday [February 29], the inspiration Microsoft is drawing from its Windows Phone software for smartphones is striking," they continued. "Windows 8 uses the same touch-friendly interface that Microsoft uses in Windows Phone. The interface, known as Metro, features a mosaic of tiles that can be tapped to start up applications, and that often spring to life with photos, e-mails and other new content from the Internet." (You can read CNET's take on Windows 8 here.)
To make sure they don't alienate some PC users with the radically different phone-based interface for Windows 8, Microsoft's designers have allowed the option of using a more traditional Windows desktop design instead.
Microsoft also announced the opening of its Windows Store--an online app store for PCs--on February 29, at Mobile World Congress. It follows Apple, which launched a Mac App store more than a year ago.
While this trend of borrowing design elements from phones might seem to signal the PC's impending irrelevance, some industry analysts see these moves as opening the doors for Apple and Microsoft--and their shared nemesis, Google--to design new types of services for laptop and tablet users that could bring in new revenue streams. As the Times reported, these could include increased cloud-based storage offerings, new styles of targeted ads and coupons, and direct deals with content providers for PC users.
It will be interesting for designers and consumers alike to see how user habits might change with the new, phone-inspired interfaces--and whether the future design of phones might be affected in the opposite direction, too.
Images: Microsoft, Apple
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com