Tablets and clouds to displace the PC, report says

A paradigm shift may be coming to the digital lifestyle. Instead of the PC being the center of the personal computing universe, consumers will be opting for tablets as their primary computing device and relying on cloud storage to access their content across their devices, according to a new report.

"This burgeoning market is set to disrupt the personal computing device and OS markets," according to a new report from Forrester Research on the future of computing. Instead of serving as a supplement to a desktop or laptop computer, the report said, these burgeoning cloud services will play such an integral role in the connected future that consumers will first choose a service, then the compatible device as the focus shifts from device to personal content storage services. And tablets such as iPad will become the conduit between consumers' digital devices such as smartphones and PC and the cloud-stored content. The computing platform will also make its way more solidly into the office, the report said. Even though the same functionality is heading to the PC, the form factor and mobility of tablets give them a clear edge over PCs, the report says.