8. Technology Roadmap for Next Generation PC: Hybrid PC

Technology roadmap (TRM) is a powerful management tool for technology planning process. The uniqueness of this tool enables firms to identify and develop technology alternatives that are required to meet a set of product or service needs. In this framework, we utilized this powerful tool to measure the pace of the next hybrid PC generations. The main catalyst behind this study is attempting to answer the question of why PC sales have shrunk recently. We started conducting our research by applying the macroeconomics forces at the macroscale to have a clear vision of the exerted forces on PC industry—namely, the impact of tablets, ultrabooks, laptops, and smartphones on PCs. Accordingly, we conducted an intensive literature review followed by a survey to understand the trends of PC industry as well as the end users’ needs. Based on the knowledge extracted from the literature and the survey, we constructed the technology roadmap of the next hybrid PC generations. The developed roadmap—consisted of drivers, products, technology, and resources—empowered us to evaluate the current state of PC industry and revealed technological gaps implicitly. We believe the technological gaps discovered by this framework will help any hypothetical manufacturer pioneer in the PC industry to cope up with the dynamic of PC market for the next 5 years. Market research is conducted using Porter’s five force model, and the data for other layers of technology roadmap are from literature research and surveys.