Google: smartphones to make desktops irrelevant in three years

According to Google VP of global ad operations, John Herlihy, desktops will become irrelevant in the coming three years.  In a digital landscapes conference, he made it clear how important the mobile space is to the search giant. He mentioned that smartphones will make desktops second-class citizens in three years, echoing what Eric Schmidt said last month at Mobile World Conference in Barcelona.

Herlihy is of an opinion that Google’s number one concern is the mobile market now. Google has versions of its programs and apps for nearly every mobile platform, its Android operating system is gaining traction and it began selling its own hardware with the Nexus One.

He mentioned that mobile makes the world’s information universally accessible. Search will become more important because there is more information and it will be hard to shift through it. This step will create new opportunities for entrepreneurs to create new business models.