PCs Evolving as Consumer Habits Change

"Computing is evolving, and the companies that have built their legacy business on computers coming in gray boxes that run Windows have to evolve," Epps says.

The key driver behind products like smartphones

Mobility has been the key driver behind products like smartphones and the iPad. Consumers want much of the functionality they get with a PC when they're on the go, however with more user-friendly touches.

PC makers are going to have to accommodate that demand. Apple has made the biggest step in that direction with the MacBook Air, an ultrathin notebook computer with the ability to turn on nearly instantly from sleep mode.

Lot of ways PCs are changing that's influenced

"There are a lot of ways PCs are changing that's influenced by phones and tablets," Epps says. "Consumers are expecting an instant-on and always-on experience from their devices. Giving consumers that always-on connectivity that they are used to having in their smartphones is going to become more common in the PC."

A key factor in the mobility trend is increased dependence on cloud computing-in other words, storing and accessing data online or rather than on a device's hard drive. PC manufacturers have long relied on bigger and better specs-faster processors, more memory-to sell their products. However cloud computing renders much of that power unnecessary.

"The difference with HP is they can benefit from a lot of these trends," Wu says. "All this content that everyone accesses through their notebooks, smartphones and tablets has to be stored and processed in the data center. HP is the Number One player in terms of infrastructure, and they're going to take more share in the data center."