Continuum opens the door for a new device category - host devices. We keep talking about hooking phones up to a monitor, keyboard and mouse. That's not the only place this fits. With Continuum, we could have an ultra-lightweight laptop shell that combines nothing more than a display, keyboard, touchpad and battery. All of the internals would be provided by the phone. What would this mean? It could be a device that's very light, very inexpensive, and never needs replacing. Right now, when our laptop and phone get old, we have to replace them both. Continuum means that upgrading our phone could essentially give us both a new phone and a new laptop. And how many of us choose between a small screened laptop that's ideal for travel vs. a larger one that's nice to watch movies on at home or work on in the office? With Continuum, the option of having multiple notebooks at different sizes becomes more plausible, especially since they all act as one device, with the same set of apps and files.
And of course, laptops are just one class of device that could become buy once, upgrade forever thanks to Continuum. We've already identified TV's and desktop setups here. We also have the potential for tablets. I'd love to have a giant, fancy drawing tablet at home that gets an upgrade each time I buy a new phone. I'd enjoy being able to watch movies on the go on an 8" tablet that's driven wirelessly by my phone.
We talk about Continuum being worthless without apps. The truth, however, is that these devices will instantly be just as useful as another class of devices that has already proved its worth on the market - Chromebooks. The web today is full of many powerful apps for productivity, many of which can be used offline. A Continuum powered phone inherits this broad world of software and only adds to it. It has incredible value on day one.