This week’s crop of articles restates the obvious: That smart phones and tablets are nudging out the PC in the enterprise. This is good news for the world’s workers (Increased productivity! Style! Portability! All access, all the time!), but it poses a challenge for IT departments. With new devices come increased support needs. (But that’s a topic for another post.)

Gartner predicts that by 2013, more people in the world will access the Internet on a mobile device than on a PC.

“Smartphones have conquered PCs” — CNN

According to research firm IDC, over the past two years, smartphone shipments have tripled, while PC shipments grew by only 45 percent. The trend, reports CNN, is indicative of a marked change in the kinds of devices people are using for everyday computing needs. The article also points to research from Gartner that predicts that by 2013, more people in the world will access the Internet on a mobile device than on a PC. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney Mobile Devices, tablets CIO.com, CNN, Forbes, Gartner, Help Desk, IDC, PCs, smartphones

This week’s batch of stories deals with the good, the bad and the ugly. The good news is that the decline in tech spending may be history. The bad and the ugly: Google’s customer service. Read on…

The Good: Forrester says the Tech Spending Downturn is Over — Huzzah!

Support requests can be sent only through e-mail, to which Google can take up to 48 hours to respond. Yes, two days.

Computerworld magazine reports that the tech spending downturn is over, according to a report released by Forrester. The research firm predicts that IT spending in the United States will increase by 6.6 percent in 2010, after falling 8.2 percent last year.

Even if Forrester’s predictions are correct, it will not necessarily mean a full recovery, according to Computerworld. Spending for 2010 will still be less than in 2007 and 2008. What’s more, the mag warns of the possibility of a double-dip recession – that is, a growth spurt, followed by another decrease of 3 percent to 4 percent. Cross your fingers.

The Bad and the Ugly: Lessons in Customer Service from Google Read more…

Jenny Sweeney This Week in Tech News CNN, computerworld, Google, InformationWeek, Nexus One