StealthNET Ltd

Businesses may have more mobile marketing opportunities in the future as industry professionals predict that smartphones will eventually replace desktop PCs.

John Herlihy, vice president of global ad operations at Google, said recently, that by 2013, the desktop PC will be irrelevant as more people take up and utilise smartphones.

In support of these predictions is Leigh Geary, webmaster of CoolSmartPhone.com. He explained that smartphones are still relatively expensive. However, he said: "When you find yourself slumped in front of the TV replying to emails, sending Tweets, browsing the web and reading PDF [Portable Document Format] documents then it's suddenly value for money."

According to research by Gartner, smartphone sales in 2009 reached 172.4 million units, a 23.8 per cent increase from 2008.

With the rise in smartphones, including Google's new Android phones, the industry predicts that one day people will cease to use desktop PCs, opening up a wide range of new markets for businesses to target users with mobile marketing.