Extinction, or Evolution?
While there's no denying that mobile devices are gaining power and popularity, the argument that the PC is going extinct seems too near-sighted. Smaller and more efficient devices have stormed the market, allowing consumers to migrate certain activities from their PCs to mobile devices. There's no doubt that this is an excellent development, but the immense amount of marketing hype has influenced some consumers into thinking that mobile is the be-all, end-all of computing. The desktop PC is still going strong, and is here to evolve.
Price, Power, Portability
Our technological landscape is beautifully diverse. The current computing gamut could be summarized as follows: desktops, laptops, netbooks, and mobile devices. No single device category has what it takes to completely convert users of other technologies. As with everything in life, compromises must be made; it's an issue of give-and-take. Desktop computers offer a huge range of flexibility, modification options and value at the cost of sacrificing portability. Price and power, relative to desktop machines, are directly proportional to each other: pay more, get more.
The largest real threat to the desktop tower is not mobile devices at all, but the laptop. Newer laptop computers offer power on-par with desktop machines, although they can be significantly more expensive. Heating issues become more prominent as more powerful components are thrown into the mix, which affects the mobility of the device. Smaller devices such as netbooks are great for more simple tasks, but lack the hardware to handle things like graphics editing or heavy gaming. This effectively relegates the role of the netbook to handling tasks such as communications, spreadsheets, and Internet browsing.
The Gaming & Mod Community
Hardcore gamers need ample power to play increasingly demanding and realistic games. Game designers and multimedia producers also require large amounts of power and storage to accomplish their goals. Extra screen real estate is another perk that desktop users enjoy.
Members of the mod community love to tinker with and customize their beloved rigs. The market that exists for PC mods clearly shows a healthy interest in the desktop PC. Laptops and mobile devices can only be customized internally, with cases or sleeves for protective purposes. Additionally, warranties on desktop PCs generally won't be voided by making cosmetic or functional modifications to the housing.
People Like New Stuff
Whenever a new product with promise of revolution is released, lots of people are going to check it out. It's just human nature to be curious. However, a mobile "conversion" should not be implied. It's expected that consumers will be interested in hyped and heavily-promoted products. Short-sighted fanatics and reviews present skewed statistics showing a mass exodus from the desktop environment, but this simply isn't the case.
So, What Now?
There's no denying that technology is evolving exponentially. However, rather than extinction, the role of the desktop PC is being redistributed. Portable devices capable of replacing the desktop PC will eventually exist, however there will always be a need for the desktop due to its sheer competition on price and power.