It's the case now, but the trend toward the client+server model (terminal+mainframe, app+cloud, whatever it's named any given decade) versus the local model (personal computers, etc.) will probably be somewhat cyclical as fads are across industries. The contributing factors are wildly unpredictable... networks (or the internet) existing, privacy tolerance, battery breakthroughs, wealth distribution, who knows. We're cool with thin clients now, but it could go out of fashion the moment some confidentiality breach, mainstream, hits home a little too hard (for example).