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Apple Poised to Become World's Top-Selling PC Vendor with Tablets Included
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For me a computer is a device which allows you to write/compile code for other computers/devices.
Although you *can* compile computer code on a device with the iPad's hardware, Apple doesn't allow it ... for obviously good reasons.
Although you *can* compile computer code on a device with the iPad's hardware, Apple doesn't allow it ... for obviously good reasons.
The average user considers the larger screen more comfortable to use. This is a key element in the market's perception of a tablet as more of a computing device than a smartphone. That's just the way it is.
Good. It doesn't actually matter, though. Market perception is market perception irrespective of device capability. the two aren't necessarily connected, nor can we expect them to be.
That all depends on the way the market is trending. Consumer perception.
The market dictates it, based on whatever Joe Average's criteria is. That is all there is to it. It's very likely screen size. Of course, you can always pick another explanation. I'm not seeing any other one, though. A large screen just feels right in terms of comfy computing. That's probably all that it needs to be, regardless of whether it obscures some other fact about the device.
"Look, Jerry got these new tip calculators!"
"But it does other things!"
"I love this tip calculator!"
The market decides. It has its own collective logic. Which, if you think about it, is a perfectly normal wary of thinking. Whatever feels good and is comfy. There might be an extra feature to push the device into another category, but if it's not being used, if it's being ignored, if it just isn't used like that, then the device won't make it into that other category, despite technical logic. Consumers buy and use things based on feelings, emotions and intuition just as much as on anything else.
Based on the definition, no. But I would argue that if that were to happen, then personal vehicle sales would be a factor people should track, rather than automobiles.
But let's look at the definition of computer: "an electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable program." It seems to me that an iPad fits. Then again, so does a programmable calculator.
Those who are so starkly against calling the iPad a computer, just ask yourself, in a market where people are buying iPads to do the things they used to do on your traditional idea of what a computer was, why is it relevant to track computer sales (those without iPads) to anyone except those who manufacture them?
PC means personal computer. The definition "personal" separates machines that are not designed to operated by one person at a time, for example, Mainframes, servers etc.. are large machines that have multiple users accessing them.
Personal Computers carry put tasks designed for the individual whether they be business or pleasure activities. The characteristics that defines them is that they can be made to run different programs for different tasks.
I don't see how an ipad doesn't fall in to this category.
As some one said earlier, put a keyboard on an ipad and how does it not match a netbook which is seen as a pc?
In fact, the Ipad was apples answer to the netbook. Apple had said they couldnt produce a decent Mac computer at a netbook price point. So thats one of the reasons for teh ipad.
I think what Jobs was talking about when he said "Post-PC" is really defining the PC built from interchangeable parts (motherboard + graphics card etc..) designed to do everything vs the integrated device designed to do a few things well. I think we are going to see more devices like that (i.e. like games consoles are dedicated devices for playing games).
So if you want to say PC means IBM/Windows PC compatibles and machines with similar architecture then yes, ipads are not PC's.
But if your looking at the true meaning of what PC is then, yes, the ipad is just as much a PC as the original Apple I was.
Personal Computers carry put tasks designed for the individual whether they be business or pleasure activities. The characteristics that defines them is that they can be made to run different programs for different tasks.
I don't see how an ipad doesn't fall in to this category.
As some one said earlier, put a keyboard on an ipad and how does it not match a netbook which is seen as a pc?
In fact, the Ipad was apples answer to the netbook. Apple had said they couldnt produce a decent Mac computer at a netbook price point. So thats one of the reasons for teh ipad.
I think what Jobs was talking about when he said "Post-PC" is really defining the PC built from interchangeable parts (motherboard + graphics card etc..) designed to do everything vs the integrated device designed to do a few things well. I think we are going to see more devices like that (i.e. like games consoles are dedicated devices for playing games).
So if you want to say PC means IBM/Windows PC compatibles and machines with similar architecture then yes, ipads are not PC's.
But if your looking at the true meaning of what PC is then, yes, the ipad is just as much a PC as the original Apple I was.
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Last night I wanted to read my email in the bathroom. I started unplugging my desktop set up and moving it to the bathroom I had messed myself.
My desktop pc is not a personal computer then.
Clown Boy said:
Last night I wanted to read my email in the bathroom. I started unplugging my desktop set up and moving it to the bathroom I had messed myself.
My desktop pc is not a personal computer then.
That and also, you won't see people pulling their tables from their pockets and bringing them to their ears to talk. A tablet is never going to serve as a phone, with that size.
It's best we drop all definitions. They're good at explaining our own understanding and expectations, but can fail miserably when tested for universal acceptance.
Certainly, your definition might, objectively, be absolutely correct. But that doesn't actually matter.
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It's French!
Well played.
Good question. Then again the analogy goes up to some point and then breaks.
A bicycle won't serve as a replacement for a car, even if a person buys it instead of a car. For it to serve as a replacement, it's gotta go with some form of fuel/electricity, go much faster than a bicycle, carry more than one person etc.
But people who buy tablets instead of computers do it because everything they can do on a computer, a tablet does it already.
So for that analogy to hold more ground, the person who buys the bicycle instead of a car had to aim for a roofless car, which works on the drivers leg movements, carry only the driver and run 10mph at most.
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Definitions certainly can change in humanities, quite frequently as well.
Even in positive science definitions chance every few decades.
It's only relevant for bragging rights apparently. Because the consumer doesn't care. As I wrote initially in this thread - the consumer will buy whatever DEVICE works best for them regardless of what it's called.
You could, but the broader market legitimizes the perception in terms of what tech falls into what category, provided you think the same way.
I was in our local Apple store over the weekend, trying to make this exact decision. It's time to replace our old MacBook, and my wife and I were test driving the MacBook 15" and an iPad. We have a 27" iMac so this would be a secondary computer. The Apple employee we spoke with said that a lot of people were doing the comparison, so we weren't alone in this. I'm sure Apple isn't collecting data on this, so it's anecdotal at best.
Since it's a second computer, we're going with the iPad. It'll work great for sitting in my recliner reading, watching Apple TV, or doing email and surfing.
These types of studies have been done for all products, at all times. They are done to track sales, track how the market is responding to the new devices, to answer shareholders questions, etc.
So to say that they are only relevant for bragging rights is absurd. And nobody said macrumors.com is a consumer oriented website. How many apple consumers care about reading these types of sites?
Good question. Then again the analogy goes up to some point and then breaks.
A bicycle won't serve as a replacement for a car, even if a person buys it instead of a car. For it to serve as a replacement, it's gotta go with some form of fuel/electricity, go much faster than a bicycle, carry more than one person etc.
But people who buy tablets instead of computers do it because everything they can do on a computer, a tablet does it already.
So for that analogy to hold more ground, the person who buys the bicycle instead of a car had to aim for a roofless car, which works on the drivers leg movements, carry only the driver and run 10mph at most.
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They have tandem bikes (more than one person)
A bicycle uses human energy for fuel.
Why does a replacement have to go faster? Are netbooks not computers because they aren't as fast as regular computers?
Setting up criteria doesn't work because it's easily debunked.
Fact is - there's no clear definition because it's constantly evolving.
Also, consider sheer enjoyment and comfort. I still find that I have a hard time putting it down. It just *feels* good to use. That itself is enough. All questions can end there.
Replacement has to go faster than a bike because other than certain 90 year olds in Florida, nobody drives a car at 10mph.
Tablet vs netbook, I doubt the speed of browsing, reading mail, listening to music etc, is actually slower on tablets. It might even be faster.
But you are right, the definitions always evolve. Hence it's useless to say that the iPad isn't a computer because it doesn't fit some criteria used for computers 20 years ago.
No we don't need to. Even micro-controllers and embedded devices are computers with a fixed instruction set and are cable of high efficient field programmable uses but we don't classify them as personal computers.
Here we need to differentiate with the actual definition of a person computer with respect to their popular use case which has been prevalent for ages.
Desktops|Laptops|Notebooks|Netbooks have always been classified as personal computers - solely because they have a pretty good screen size, can run a full fledged operating system rather than a limited embedded system software ("Limited" again is debatable).
Tablets definitely have their own place - "Tablet Computer Market", but essentially have a decent 9"-11" screen size and in todays world are highly capable of doing the tasks people do on an average PC. This doesn't mean that they are not limited. Definitely they are; some don't have a keyboard; some don't have a USB/SD/Ethernet port, most don't have a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray drive, but essentially people use them "easily" for tasks such as work processing, email, calendar, music, video-calling and in a few years these devices will be capable of native code compilation through Xcode and probably netbeans, etc on non-apple devices. So basically, these are highly efficient, high resolution, extremely capable devices now with a huge battery life and a touch screen interface. These are undoubtedly personal computers and now more mobile than laptops, netbooks and notebooks.
Just because they run iOS/Android which may not have the capabilities of Windows or OS X doesn't mean they are not computers.
As for smartphones, they have 3"-4.5" and will always be incapable of doing word processing or related stuff, unless there is a software to project the entire UI on a nearby surface as in some of the minority report stuff.
So lets get over with the definition and talk about the real/worldcase use cases of these devices and begin our conversion from there.
Well to borrow from Steve and Apple - some people choose to think differently. Just because you don't call something a computer doesn't mean I can't. And just because the general public calls something one thing doesn't mean I have to either.
Sorry - what? MacRumors isn't a consumer oriented website? So it's geared for who exactly? Aren't we all consumers?
Perhaps you mean the general public - but again I would disagree. To think so is to live in an imaginary bubble where you are confusing the average poster here with the average visitor.