Jason Notte’s article in The Street, quotes financial pundits in the tech sector, predicting the demise of certain technologies and formats based on multi-function capabilities of handheld devices. The article identifies six devices for extinction. For the record, we wouldn’t bet on all of these devices completely disappearing. Many technologies have coexisted peacefully over the years for various reasons. Still, we thought you’d find the subject stimulating. Tell us what you think. 

1) Blu-ray Players
Says Ross Rubin, an analyst for NPD Group, “Handsets may cannibalize Blu-ray players. As bandwidth improves and we see more media on demand and HDMI outputs or wireless features built into the phone, it could take on the functionality of a Roku device or Blu-ray player."

2) Digital Cameras
Android phones now offer up to eight megapixels. Forecast - a decline in high-end interchangeable-lens SLR cameras will reduce them to the domain of die-hards.

3) Video-Game Consoles
iPhone 4 contains a new gyroscope—specifically, for gamers. Microsoft offers Xbox games on its Windows Phone 7 through its Xbox Live service. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are increasingly turning to online content and motion-controlled gaming. Prediction: Wireless HD connections for smartphones, within the next five years, will have people questioning the need for a Wii console.

4) Navigation Devices
Analysts note that the only separation between GPS devices and a smartphone is a docking-capable screen. TomTom’s iPhone application didn’t help matters. By 2014, smartphones will have a nearly 160-million-unit edge on dedicated personal navigation devices, the pundits predict.  

5) Tablets
The iPad’s days are numbered, says NPD Group’s Ross Rubin. "It is very much a media playback device with a focus on video due to this large screen and relative lack of portability compared to a handset or MP3 player." Enter the "moveable experience" -- with wireless outputs enabling much smaller devices to display on much larger screens.

6) Netbooks
Pundits agree: there is no compelling reason to buy a netbook with smartphones already performing some of their lighter duties.

7) E-Readers
Amazon and Barnes & Noble seem to know how the Kindle/Nook story will end. Both have developed e-reader applications for smartphones and the iPad.