A fellow member of the Online News Association mentions that the phrases online news and online publishing won’t make much sense in an increasingly wireless world.
Speaking of which, Anil de Melo charts how mobile phones are evolving into ‘advanced human communication subsystems.’ The latest models are now capable of voice telephony, SMS/MMS, e-mail, Web browsing, AM or FM or TV, digital photography, online games playing, and navigation.
There of course are more mobile phones in use worldwide than wired phones and more mobile phones in use worldwide than desktop and laptop PCs. Online is becoming a thing of the past. A phrase of the past.
I highly doubt wireless devices will mean the demise of the word “online,” after all the word means “connected to a computer network or accessible by computer.” I’m online even when connecting to the Net via a mobile phone.
If the word “online” does disappear, it will be because its been replaced by a new buzz word.
In fact, I think “wired”/“wireless” will become obsolete much faster (after all, how many people still use the term wireless to refer to radio?).