Expert: Tablets could reshape search habits

Text-based web searches may soon become a thing of the past, and search bars may go the way of dinosaurs, as the growth of tablet computers is having a profound effect on the way people browse the web.

This seems to be the opinion of SRI Ventures vice president Norman Winarsky, who sees tablets as an opportunity to make web searching a fully interactive experience.

"Tablets enable a full, interactive experience that involves not only text, but potentially speech and interactions," Winarsky tells technology news provider Mashable.

Winarsky asserts that touch gestures and voice, rather than the traditional keyboard, will be the future of web browsing. Users will tell their tablets what they want to see, and a simple flick of the finger will dictate what the user explores.

"Search becomes a unified experience on a tablet … a unified experience between our eyes, our ears and our cognitive processes," Winarsky adds.

According to research firm IDC, tablets and smartphones are already having a significant impact on the way people access the web. In a September 2011 report, IDC predicts that mobile web browsing will overtake traditional wireline browsing by 2015.