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A Study of the Growth and Evolution of Personal Computer Devices Throughout the Pc Age

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A Study of the Growth and Evolution of Personal Computer Devices Throughout the Pc Age A STUDY OF THE GROWTH AND EVOLUTION OF PERSONAL COMPUTER DEVICES THROUGHOUT THE PC AGE A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Software Engineering Ryan Abbott ST20074068 Supervisor: Paul Angel Department of Computing & Information Systems Cardiff School of Management Cardiff Metropolitan University April 2017 Declaration I hereby declare that this dissertation entitled A Study of the Growth and Evolution of Personal Computer Devices Throughout the PC Age is entirely my own work, and it has never been submitted nor is it currently being submitted for any other degree. Candidate: Ryan Abbott Signature: Date: 14/04/2017 Supervisor: Paul Angel Signature: Date: 2 Table of Contents Declaration .................................................................................................................................. 2 List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... 4 1. ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ 5 2. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 6 3. METHODOLOGY.................................................................................................................... 8 4. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................. 9 4.1 PCs & Laptops ................................................................................................................... 9 4.2 Mobile Phones & Tablets ............................................................................................... 10 4.3 Other Relevant IT Developments ................................................................................... 11 5. THE HISTORY OF PERSONAL DEVICES & RELATED IT DEVELOPMENTS ................................... 13 5.1 PCs & Laptops ................................................................................................................. 13 5.2 Mobile Phones & Tablets ............................................................................................... 20 5.3 Other Relevant IT Developments ................................................................................... 29 5.3.1 Operating Systems ................................................................................................... 30 5.3.2 Application Software ............................................................................................... 31 5.3.3 Internet/World Wide Web ...................................................................................... 32 5.3.4 Broadband & Wi-Fi .................................................................................................. 33 5.3.5 Cloud Computing ..................................................................................................... 34 5.3.6 Social Media ............................................................................................................. 34 6. A CAUSAL ANALYSIS OF DEVICE GROWTH AND EVOLUTION ................................................. 36 6.1 Microprocessor Era 1975-1982 ...................................................................................... 36 6.2 Packaged Products 1983-1988 ....................................................................................... 36 6.3 Mobiles arrive; PCs dip 1989-1991 ................................................................................ 37 6.4 Internet Era begins 1992-2000 ....................................................................................... 37 6.5 Mobile computing & Data connectivity 2001-2006 ....................................................... 37 6.6 Smartphones & Tablets rule 2007-2016 ........................................................................ 38 6.7 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 38 7. THE PERSONAL DEVICE MARKET TODAY .............................................................................. 40 8. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 43 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 44 Appendices ................................................................................................................................ 47 3 List of Figures Table 1 Report Structure ........................................................................................................... 7 Figure 1 The Altair 8800 Computer ......................................................................................... 14 Figure 2 The Apple II ................................................................................................................ 15 Figure 3 PC Sales 1975-80 ........................................................................................................ 16 Figure 4 IBM PC ........................................................................................................................ 17 Figure 5 PC Sales 1980-84 ........................................................................................................ 18 Figure 6 Apple Macintosh ........................................................................................................ 19 Figure 7 PC Sales 1984-1990 .................................................................................................... 19 Figure 8 PC Sales 1990-2001 .................................................................................................... 20 Figure 9 A Panasonic Transportable ........................................................................................ 21 Figure 10 Motorola International 3200 – First GSM Handportable ........................................ 22 Figure 11 Nokia 2110i (Left) & Nokia 6110 (Right) .................................................................. 23 Figure 12 Nokia 1100 – Worlds Top-Selling Phone ................................................................. 23 Figure 13 Sony Ericsson T68i – With Camera Attachment ...................................................... 24 Figure 14 BlackBerry Curve (Left) & BlackBerry Bold (Right) .................................................. 25 Figure 15 Original Apple iPhone .............................................................................................. 26 Figure 16 Samsung Galaxy S4 .................................................................................................. 27 Figure 17 Apple Newton MessagePad ..................................................................................... 28 Figure 18 Original Apple iPad .................................................................................................. 29 Chart 1 Number of Devices per Respondent ........................................................................... 40 Chart 2 Device Usage ............................................................................................................... 41 Chart 3 Worldwide Device Sales .............................................................................................. 41 Chart 4 Most Commonly Used Device ..................................................................................... 42 Chart 5 Least Commonly Used Device ..................................................................................... 42 Chart 6 Number of Devices per Respondent ........................................................................... 56 Chart 7 Daily Activities on Smartphones and Tablets.............................................................. 57 Chart 8 Device Usage ............................................................................................................... 58 Chart 9 Worldwide Device Sales .............................................................................................. 59 Chart 10 Most Commonly Used Device ................................................................................... 60 Chart 11 Least Commonly Used Device ................................................................................... 60 4 1. ABSTRACT Both of my parents have worked in the computer industry most of their lives so I probably have them to thank for my interest in computers. I have always been lucky enough to have had the benefit of numerous computerised devices and functions – for me the Internet has always been there, as have mobile communications – and yet I knew nothing about how they came about. This study aims to address this by looking at the development and evolution of a range of devices which we are all now very familiar with. As I gathered available literature on this subject I became aware that most of these focused on a single device or aspect of computing and made only casual references to outside factors which influenced their development. As a result, a major objective of this study was to bring together the progression of specific device groups and what I have called “Other Relevant IT Developments” to form a more complete picture of what influenced what. The main body of this study is presented in 3 chapters. Chapter 5 provides a historical narrative
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