Bluray players remain popular, CDs and DVDs are still the back-up standard, and most software at retail still comes on optical disks, noted Brunt.

"I think the big transition is moving away from having it available internally in the device to being available externally and connecting to the desktop, laptop or tablet with a USB connection," said Brunt.

Certainly over time, as people and businesses start to manage their data more efficiently, the reliance on optical drives will lessen, said Brunt. And he agrees tablets and the app store model, as well as streaming video and the increasingly availability of the needed bandwidth, are pointing the way to new models of computing.

According to an IDC Canada study, when asked what are the features you consider most important in a portable computer, last year 27 per cent of respondents said an optical drive. This year, just 17 per cent said the same.

"But I don't think people could do entirely without it. The ability to connect to an optical drive is certainly not going away; people will still want to do it," said Brunt. "It just won't be something that's necessary on every single device anymore."