Touchscreen shipments will double this year, according to Gartner. The analyst firm predicts that 362.7 million mobile touchscreen devices will ship in 2010, a 96.8 percent increase over 2009’s 184.3 million units

Gartner expects that by 2015 more than 80 percent of mobile devices in North America and Western Europe will be touchscreen. Globally, 58 percent of all devices will be touchscreen by that time.

What makes reading the mobile touchscreen market difficult to read right now is that great hypothetical on the horizon – the iPad.

If Apple’s tablet is a success – and all indicators are that it will be an enormous one – then touchscreen computing will accelerate exponentially, and will perhaps be the near-future of computing, as many people not named Bill Gates expect.

The belief is that the iPad will mainstream large-screen touchscreen computing like the iPhone did for phones. Don’t bet against Apple’s ability to change user habits and behavior. Granted, that change in behavior is less dramatic than would be the case with other disruptive devices, thanks to Apple’s marked skill in ‘incremental disruption.’

Apple’s iPad, which according to reports is having slight delays in production -  delays which could limit the amount of devices initially available, which would be great for Apple, getting it into the hands of early adopters and influencers while maintaining the buzz in the general public – is expected to ship between one and five million units this year.

It’s no secret that the future of computing is in mobile. The secret is that the change will happen faster than many people – and brands – think. Despite the success of smartphones and apps, more traditional companies, some of whom are still learning to trust the internet, are hesitant to lead their brand into that market.

But some companies expect mobile to become the primary computing platform by 2013.

Google’s Vice President of Global Ad Operations, John Herlihy, predicted yesterday that desktops will be dead in three years, killed by mobile devices.

“In three years time, desktops will be irrelevant. In Japan, most research is done today on smart phones, not PCs,” Herlihy said at the Digital Landscapes conference in Ireland. “Mobile makes the world’s information universally accessible.”

Teens in tech face some particular problems that others in their age group surely do not. Like if college will be a detriment to their success.

Tech is famous for its most successful entrepreneurs not finishing their studies – Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, for example – and whether or not to go to school is a legitimate concern for teen entrepreneurs for whom classes are an obstacle to their business activities.

“The important thing is all these people [Zuckerberg, etc.] enrolled in college,” said John Ramey, who started his company, isocket, while a student at Indiana University.

“They just didn’t finish,” said Ramy, who didn’t finish either but whose company signed a deal to handle Techcrunch’s advertising last May.

If you do enroll in college, do you spend all your time worrying about your grades and slack off on running your business?

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Here we were Sunday afternoon, the last day of the BNP Paribas Open, where Bill Gates and his wife Melinda were attending the men and women’s finals and took the time to come over to our suite to say hello in person.

In the picture above, Mr. Gates is demoing the Concierge mapping application powered by the Microsoft Virtual Earth technology. Although very easy to use, I was surprised by his agility in interacting with Surface and asked him if he had one at home. He answered that he has one in his office.

Considering his busy agenda, Mr. Gates spent a fairly large amount of time with all of us. He went through several Surface applications including the Newsreader that aggregates the news of the week from MSNBC, and the paint program. Gates actually autographed his name using Paint (picture below).

Mr. Gates appreciated the fact that L’Atelier, once again, partnered with Microsoft - this time to introduce two Microsoft Surface tables to the VIP guests of BNP Paribas and Bank of the West.

Indeed ! Such an amazing crowd. Al Gore is staying all day long, listening to the presentations and occasionaly playing with his white iPhone 3G or his Mac Book Pro. Same for Larry Page, who looks so relaxed and spend time talking to everybody. Except that he is not playing with any tech toys. Just to name two of the most famous people attending. So ? Why all those super busy famous people dedicate 4 days of their extra busy agenda to TED ? Because it is exactly what it is supposed to be : amazing.

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I just arrived at the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) Conference (http://conferences.ted.com/TED2009/). I’m so excited ! This is supposed to be the Davos of Innovation. And, actually, a lot of the attendees were in Davos last week. Don’t they have a regular job? Just being difficult…The program is so exiting : Tim Berners Lee (the dad of the web), Bill Gates (the dad of the PC), Chris Anderson (the dad of the Long Tail), Al Gore (the dad of the Planet), among others. Yann Arthus-Bertrand and his project, “6 Billion Others.”

I have decided to do the lightest coverage one could do: just share a few feelings and thoughts with you, and see what’s going on. And I know a lot is going on. You are going to be frustrated.

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Three years already that the U.S. team of Atelier is attending the Consumer Electronic Show held in Las Vegas. Life is tough! But we aren’t here for fun - because we do not see the day light very often here - but to cover this annual trade show (aka. CES for the insiders), the great mess of the electronics industry which has being held for over 30 years in the sin city.

This was Bill Gates who was until now addressing the opening session. This year, it will still be Microsoft, but it will be Steve Ballmer’s turn to take Gates’s place. At least he’s a real speaker. As we say, this is a page that is being turned. We will follow this course for you and keep you updated. Despite a background of crisis, a rich program is waiting for us: the Presidents and CEOs of Ford, Sony, Intel and Cisco will set the tone for the year. It is being said that it will be very, very green-oriented and also low cost. We will tell you all about that. So stay tune.

Original post here. [credit photo: L'Atelier BNP Paribas]

Microsoft has tagged comedian and well-known Mac user Jerry Seinfeld (picture) to star in an “image rehabilitation” campaign for Windows Vista. The star is netted to make $10 million in the $300-million campaign, Microsoft’s largest to date.

“You thought the sleeping giant was still sleeping? Well, we’ve woken up, and it’s time to take our message forward,” said Microsoft’s VP of Windows Vista consumer marketing Brad Brooks.

The campaign is a response to Apple’s popular and omnipresent “Get a Mac” ads, in which the corporate dork PC (John Hodgman) is constantly upstaged by indie geekster Mac (Justin Long), in a campaign that has increased Apple’s Mac sales while helping erode Vista’s reputation.

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Bill Gates, the oft lauded, oft loathed mastermind behind Microsoft has said he is ready to step down from full-time work at his company in order to devote himself to another brainchild: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, according to MSNBC Monday.

Gates founded Microsoft and ruled the company ‘with an iron fist’ for 33 years. Once the richest man in the world, he is now the third wealthiest due mostly to his work with the philanthropic foundation he began with his own capital in 2000.

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It was at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) that Bill Gates unveiled the Windows Home Server, a new operating system for use in the home. It will store all the data from all computers in the same house.

Developed with the US manufacturer Hewlett-Packard, the server will store all documents, videos and photos from all the computers in the house. But Windows Home Server will also enable you to share information relating to security and various peripherals, such as printers, between all these computers. The Microsoft game console Xbox 360, as well as the digital media player Zune, can also access the server and share and receive data stored on the Windows Home Server. A real family network!

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On the 8th of January, the Consumer Electronic Show (CES), the biggest electronics fair in the world open to the public, opened its doors in Las Vegas, until the 11th of January. For forty years, the event has been closely following innovations marking the future of advanced technology. 150,000 visitors are expected this year.

This fortieth edition, inaugurated with an opening speech by Bill Gates, the Chairman and Managing Director of Microsoft, is expected to give pride of place to mobile devices and high definition, which look like being the major trends for 2007.