Are we in a "Post-PC world" thanks to Apple?

Tom Dunne

Engadget has a very thought-provoking article on the concept of a "post-PC world".

While it is certainly an element of marketing speak, over the past couple of weeks, I am actually beginning to think that, yes, perhaps we are in such a world.

Since I've got the iPad, I spend about 5 Euro a week on the Irish Times and the Sunday times. I have now started renting movies on the iPad for display on the TV - going to the DVD rental store is so last century. People buy me iTunes vouchers for Christmas and Birthdays, because they know I will use them. I read the odd e-book too.

It's not so much the fact that it is the iPad that enables this, I know I could do all this on a PC (or other device, for that matter), but the famed Apple ecosystem of software, hardware and services make it all too easy.

In my job (IT/Education), I will never not need a PC. However, for fun stuff such as watching films, listening to music, reading books, reading newspapers, basically consuming media, I am relying on my iPad more and more.

Do you think we are moving towards a post-PC world for consumer consumption of media?

Or am I yet another blinkered Apple fanboi sucked in by the hype and marketing-speak?

mike65

No. Steves Jobs charges you a premium for products that work well within their solar system only (the product range can be likened to species on the Galapagos Islands), the rest of the of the universe is PC. Also won't discussing this topic on the Apple fan boy forum (and isn't every Apple user a fan-boy? ) skew the chat?

Auvers

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Or am I yet another blinkered Apple fanboi sucked in by the hype and marketing-speak?

nail on head

whiterebel

At least its giving Micro$oft something to copy.......

CiaranC

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Or am I yet another blinkered Apple fanboi sucked in by the hype and marketing-speak?

An iPad is just a Tablet PC.

murf10

Or am I yet another blinkered Apple fanboi sucked in by the hype and marketing-speak? [/QUOTE]

No Tom, i don't agree,i am another apple nut with an imac,iphone,ipad,apple tv.......but i would never change to a pc or android,apple products look,feel,and work much better,long live the apple revolution

Sad Professor

I think Engadget misunderstood what Jobs meant by post-PC world. He's just talking about the advent of mobile computing and how in the future while we will still need PCs (Macs included) we won't use them as much and that smaller devices like phones/tablets will do most of what we need. I don't think fanboyism has anything to do with this. This is happening with or without Apple.

ViP3r

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kaktusjack/ipad2-parody-video-1fqj

BostonB

Can I plug my Garmin or Sony MP3 player into an iPad an update it. Make a DVD, or a Photo CD. Copy photos to a Photo Frame.

I gave my iPod Touch to someone else because tbh I preferred using a laptop to do everything like reading the news or browsing the web. Anyone I know who has an iPad also a Windows PC and tbh they only use the iPad like toy to fiddle with.

It really depends on what you do. I really doubt it will entirely replace a regular computer or laptop for most people.

ViP3r

BostonB wrote: »

Can I plug my Garmin or Sony MP3 player into an iPad an update it. Make a DVD, or a Photo CD. Copy photos to a Photo Frame.

I gave my iPod Touch to someone else because tbh I preferred using a laptop to do everything like reading the news or browsing the web. Anyone I know who has an iPad also a Windows PC and tbh they only use the iPad like toy to fiddle with.

It really depends on what you do. I really doubt it will entirely replace a regular computer or laptop for most people.

Disagree there mate, have an iPad and it functions as my main computer. It can do anything I need with a Lil jailbreaking

fox007

BostonB wrote: »

Can I plug my Garmin or Sony MP3 player into an iPad an update it. Make a DVD, or a Photo CD. Copy photos to a Photo Frame.

I gave my iPod Touch to someone else because tbh I preferred using a laptop to do everything like reading the news or browsing the web. Anyone I know who has an iPad also a Windows PC and tbh they only use the iPad like toy to

No you can't why? Because it would kill the laptop Market both pc and mac.

I agree Tom I only ever had a Pc and nokia n95 thought they where the dogs. I got a first gen iPhone off my brother and I have never been happier with a device no little arrow going around the screen to press a button etc. Now I have apple tv iPad and iPhone4 and a mac book pro and I love each one for the different piece of ingenuity, ie the iPhone can be the the same as the iPad but it's not no way near. if I'm at a bus stop etc I won't take out my iPad to cheek twitter or email the iPhone is handy that way but if I'm sitting in a coffee shop waiting, the iPad comes our to look up the news sports etc. Then with the MacBook is just a reall pleasure to use with idevices just click the album movie to transfer before you drop it on the idevice it's transferring

BostonB

I love the reply. One has a Laptop (Macbook) the other has jailbroke their iPad. Which I'm guessing you can't do without another commuter.

So neither exist in a post PC world.

sink

I think mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones and set-top boxes such as games consoles and media players will be increasingly used for media consumption, whereas desktop and laptop PC's will continue in the role they were originally designed for, that of production.

i.e. People who use computers for work will continue to use PC's, people who use computers for media and entertainment will use mobile devices and set tops to a ever greater degree.

The buzzword 'post-pc' is really a misnomer because PC's can do things no mobile device or set top can and will never be replaced by them. What is really happening is a split in roles, previously the PC was a jack of all trades but in future it is likely to be focused purely as a work machine with other devices taking on the entertainment roles.

quad_red

I really hate Apple's stance and Nazi esque (;) there, I did it) control of the platform.

Saying that... I bloody well want an iPad....

BostonB

I dunno I have use of an iPod and a iPad, but I still prefer using a laptop. Its just faster, more capable.

barryd09

but but but an ipad isnt a laptop.its not trying to be laptop either.

BostonB

Then it can't replace one.

barryd09

BostonB wrote: »

Then it can't replace one.

exactly.

BostonB

...and then we are not in a "Post-PC world"

barryd09

spot on!

Tom Dunne

sink wrote: »

I think mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones and set-top boxes such as games consoles and media players will be increasingly used for media consumption, whereas desktop and laptop PC's will continue in the role they were originally designed for, that of production.

i.e. People who use computers for work will continue to use PC's, people who use computers for media and entertainment will use mobile devices and set tops to a ever greater degree.

The buzzword 'post-pc' is really a misnomer because PC's can do things no mobile device or set top can and will never be replaced by them. What is really happening is a split in roles, previously the PC was a jack of all trades but in future it is likely to be focused purely as a work machine with other devices taking on the entertainment roles.

Finally, a bit of sense in the thread.

Perhaps my initial post wasn't as clear as it could have been. This is not a debate around Mac vs. PC, Apple vs. the rest of the world (oh, and LOL at the Apple haters who crawl out of the woodwork to get their dig in, so predictable).

Consumer use of technology appears to be breaking into two distinct streams - those that use it purely to consume media (the tablet PC/iPad) and those that use the PC for creating things.

Of course you need a PC to set up the iPad/Tablet PC at the start, but from my own experience, it is rare that I would connect my iPad to the PC any more. I can purchase movies, songs and apps directly on the device itself.

BostonB

Tom Dunne wrote: »

....
Do you think we are moving towards a post-PC world for consumer consumption of media?...

No because so few people have them as their sole media device. Its actually easier to buy the DVD and watch it on your TV. The majority of people aren't going to bothered to faff about with iPad. Or risk dropping it.

If they brought out a cheaper one, that easier to hold and link up. Then maybe. But I can't see apple going that route as their profit margin is in the expensive and proprietary.

Hobbes

BostonB wrote: »

Then it can't replace one.

It depends a lot on what you use your desktop/laptop machine for. It certainly wouldn't replace mine, but the iPad2 for example would certainly replace my mothers machine in a heartbeat for what she uses it for.

Dont be at yourself

BostonB wrote: »

Can I plug my Garmin or Sony MP3 player into an iPad an update it. Make a DVD, or a Photo CD. Copy photos to a Photo Frame.

But in the brave new post-pc world, your iPad is your Garmin, it is your mp3 player, it is your photo frame. Your iPhone and your iPad connect to the cloud and sync automatically. You don't need a DVD or a photo cd because your information is in the cloud, accessible by all of your devices.

That world isn't here yet, but it's getting closer and closer. We'll look back at syncing mp3 players over USB and burning data CDs as we look back at cassette tapes and floppy drives these days.

BostonB

Hobbes wrote: »

It depends a lot on what you use your desktop/laptop machine for. It certainly wouldn't replace mine, but the iPad2 for example would certainly replace my mothers machine in a heartbeat for what she uses it for.

You remind me of trying to explain to an elderly user with an iPad, someone who can use a PC fine. The difference between an icon thats either an application, that needs the web, that doesn't, or a website. When all the icons look the same type. Or why the gmail interface is so different to the web one. I still get asked, about dropbox. "So where exactly are the files".

BostonB

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

But in the brave new post-pc world, your iPad is your Garmin, it is your mp3 player, it is your photo frame. Your iPhone and your iPad connect to the cloud and sync automatically. You don't need a DVD or a photo cd because your information is in the cloud, accessible by all of your devices.

That world isn't here yet, but it's getting closer and closer. We'll look back at syncing mp3 players over USB and burning data CDs as we look back at cassette tapes and floppy drives these days.

See I'm not a big lover of the cloud, when you email goes offline and you need to reference something. Or you get a bad connection and you can't access some media or application, that insists on using the web connection.

I dunno about anyone else but for me you can replace, "did you turn it off and on again" with "the web is down/slow again".

The cloud is great in the perfect world, (and it doesn't get hacked) but I for one don't exist in such a world.

eoferrall

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

But in the brave new post-pc world, your iPad is your Garmin, it is your mp3 player, it is your photo frame. Your iPhone and your iPad connect to the cloud and sync automatically. You don't need a DVD or a photo cd because your information is in the cloud, accessible by all of your devices.

That world isn't here yet, but it's getting closer and closer. We'll look back at syncing mp3 players over USB and burning data CDs as we look back at cassette tapes and floppy drives these days.

but this cloud you speak of, IS a computer... all you are doing is buying something to sync to a different computer further away...

Sad Professor

eoferrall wrote: »

but this cloud you speak of, IS a computer... all you are doing is buying something to sync to a different computer further away...

Well, obviously, yes, but Jobs is talking about personal computers.

fairchild

for me the crucial point of a "post pc world" is moving from the bloated dos/windows BS that we all were force-fed to decent unix based systems (as mac ox is).
the sheer feel of stability and dare i say beauty makes all the difference to me.
combined with excellent hardware is what computer experience should be- admittingly not affordable by everyone.

if you want to experience a post pc world nonetheless get a 250€ lg or samsung netbook and put ubuntu 10.04 on it, which is almost up there wit mac ox nowadays

BostonB

PC means personal computer like your mac book. I'd assume a netbook is also a PC in the traditional sense.

Crash=Blue Screen=Kernel Panic. Can't remember when I last seen any of them.

The cloud introduces more instability, due to the unreliablity of intrernet/network connections.

eoferrall

Sad Professor wrote: »

Well, obviously, yes, but Jobs is talking about personal computers.

I would still prefer it on my computer and streamed from it to TV etc, call me mis trusting but if the internet goes down or gets slow then I have nothing rather than only no internet!:D