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Engadget's editorial on the "post-PC" world

Agree, everyone has smartphones now. All touch-based. Computers are going to die, in personal terms. Business technology won't change much.

Apps are the new CD-ROMS.
 
From the article:

"Apple's not saying that it beats other tablets on the market. It's saying 'we do one thing, and these guys do something else altogether.' They're not competition -- they're not even playing the same game!"

Yup, nailed it.
 
Agree mostly, but I think we have a long, long way to go before the past 20 years of tech become obsolete.
 
Specs don't matter but the main selling point of the 2 is dual core, 2x as fast, 9x graphics ?
 
OSMac said:
Specs don't matter but the main selling point of the 2 is dual core, 2x as fast, 9x graphics ?
Click to expand...

No, the main selling point is that it's The iPad (but Better).

The question for consumers isn't 'which tablet has the better specs'; it's 'which one is the iPad'. People get angry about this, it's pretty funny.
 
It is a fallacy since with all of the Apple products listed a PC is required in order to sync.
Anybody else see the irony in claiming to be in a post-PC world yet needing one.
 
quetzalcoatl said:
It is a fallacy since with all of the Apple products listed a PC is required in order to sync.
Anybody else see the irony in claiming to be in a post-PC world yet needing one.
Click to expand...

No, because 'post-PC' world refers to Apple's 'vision for the foreseeable future', and it refers to the making the iPad the 'de facto standard' for how people think about interacting with and evaluating technology. It has nothing to do with whether people can currently throw out all other computers.
 
I know plenty of people that have never sync'ed their iPad or iPhone - they activated it in the store and they were done...



But back to the editorial - it's a good one that people here should read. Yeah, I know quite a few folks fancy themselves as computer architecture experts that know more than Apple does, but the days of worrying about specs (and "twice as fast" isn't a spec - it's an experiential comparison) are coming to a close.

And when you think of it, do you really spend all that much time obsessing about how much RAM is in your microwave? Your TV? Your dishwasher? No, you don't. What the CPU is in your thermostat?

Remember, after all, that Apple is the company that made computers "for the rest of us." Geeks aren't a good representation of the rest of us, they never have been, they never will be.

Steve hasn't forgotten that one bit.

(Written by a geek)
 
I think it makes perfect sense. I think I have just kind of understood this for a while now, when people ask why I have an iPhone when there are so many better android phones now, I just answer that all of my apple gadgets work well together and they just keep adding more features to make it a better experience. I am excited where this is all heading and I am looking forward to OSX Lion adding even more features that can help also.

its not about specs has always been something I was fine with, unless those specs are so much better that they can overcome the integrated experience my iDevices can give then I will continue to use and enjoy the best iOS systems available.
 
It was an interesting article and I agree that Apple is much better placed to sell products based on more traditional attributes then any other computer company and most other customer electronics companies. By traditional attributes I mean thinks like brand, design, perceived build quality, ease of use and so on that most products are sold on instead of the pure specs that PCs are sold on.

However I think that it spent too much time on how the post-PC world would help Apple sell stuff and too little on the benefits of a post-PC world for users. I think that this "Future Shock" blog post does a really good job of describing how the PC world is failing most users and now the post-PC world holds the promise of simpler devices that allow people to do the tasks they want to do without being bogged down with the complexity that delights the geeks amongst us.

I would also add that I'm extremely excited to be writing computer software at this point in the history of computing. It's the first time for 25 years that we've had the opportunity to rethink how we should be interacting with computers, and now it's happened twice in quick succession, first with the rise of web applications and now with touch platforms.
 
smithrh said:
I know plenty of people that have never sync'ed their iPad or iPhone - they activated it in the store and they were done...

But back to the editorial - it's a good one that people here should read. Yeah, I know quite a few folks fancy themselves as computer architecture experts that know more than Apple does, but the days of worrying about specs (and "twice as fast" isn't a spec - it's an experiential comparison) are coming to a close.

And when you think of it, do you really spend all that much time obsessing about how much RAM is in your microwave? Your TV? Your dishwasher? No, you don't. What the CPU is in your thermostat?

Remember, after all, that Apple is the company that made computers "for the rest of us." Geeks aren't a good representation of the rest of us, they never have been, they never will be.

Steve hasn't forgotten that one bit.

(Written by a geek)
Click to expand...

I think what is missed when people mention obsessing about hardware is that it's usually not for the sake of obsessing about hardware. One's desire for the fastest processor or the most RAM is really just a proxy for their desire for a better user experience. It's been conditioned into us that faster and more will work out to a more responsive and more capable electronic device. I don't care about the presence or quantity of RAM in my microwave because it doesn't have any bearing on it's use - providing me with pizza rolls.
 
Carouser said:
No, because 'post-PC' world refers to Apple's 'vision for the foreseeable future', and it refers to the making the iPad the 'de facto standard' for how people think about interacting with and evaluating technology. It has nothing to do with whether people can currently throw out all other computers.
Click to expand...

Except that is not the meaning of the prefix "post" within the english language.
 
Vision

There is something compelling about a "post-PC era". However, I don't think the vision (or at least the implementation of this vision) is only restricted to media consumption devices like tablets, ipods and iphones. While Apple may be marrying features (or at least concepts) from iOS into OS X, I'm not sure they foresee the (future) Mac as a tablet with a keyboard and mouse or just a larger tablet. I think the tablet is a natural extension which will do a lot more than it does now, but not replace the "PC".

Here is my take on Apple's statement: it's a hit against the view that everything is a PC -- i.e., a tablet or phone is just a miniature PC desktop; it is (and should be) something else. It's a design philosophy that seems to be proving itself, at least in minds of most consumers.
 
As I just explained into a friend, Jobs' use of post-PC was just meant to describe their products after their PCs. He included iPods, iPhones and iPads in this. I think this writer took one statement and then ran with it in an opposite direction.

If he thinks Apple is on some course to kill computers as we know them, he should check the sales figures. Apple keeps on selling more and more Macs even with all of these new products. But with PCs you're pretty much fighting for previous computer users. With the post-PC products, Apple has been fighting new markets that aren't as heavily saturated.

Apple is selling a lot of iPads because they just freakin' work and they don't have all the unnecessary bulk of some notebook PCs. If you're just reading websites, you don't need a keyboard for the most part. The virtual keyboard pops up when you need it, disappears when you don't. For me, an iPad will allow me to have a more powerful desktop iMac and a more portable iPad instead of the compromise MacBook Pro. Some people will need a mobile computer like the MBP, but I need the "computer" part so little that it didn't make sense when i got my iMac last year. For the few times that I need to type out notes and such, the iPad will do. But it also makes reading websites and ebooks much much easier.
 
quetzalcoatl said:
Except that is not the meaning of the prefix "post" within the english language.
Click to expand...

Do you know the meaning of 'pedant' within the English language? It's in the same section as 'post', have a gander.

'PC world' is a world in which the PC paradigm is how people think about computing, such as arcane specs, raw processing, and desktop/mouse interaction, and the PC is the reference by which new technologies are judged.

'Post PC world' - a world in which the PC is no longer how people think about computing, thinking instead of user experience, mobility, touch interfaces, and the mobile device is most people's reference for evaluating new technologies.

I suppose we're not in a post-vinyl world since you can still buy record players.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

It's not the RAM or CPU speed, screen resolution or number of ports which dictate whether a product is valuable; it becomes purely about the experience of using the device.
Click to expand...

That sentence pretty much explains my whole philosophy on why Apple products are the best. I'm going to remember this next time in get in an argument.
 
Everytime I read stuff like this, it makes me think of the video game wars between Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. Nintendo employed the strategy of differentiation (the Wii remote being a perfect example) while Microsoft and Sony were about speed and specs.

I can't really comment on how the market is now but Nintendo took off with the Wii which didn't have the graphical prowess that the other two systems had. What ended up happening is that Nintendo opened up it's doors to a whole new demographic of consumers who didn't care about Halo or Metal Gear Solid. Eventually, the other consoles decided it was time to release their own versions of motion control gaming seeing that it was successful on the Wii.

Nintendo chose to go a different route rather than to appeal to its customers through tech specs-creating a unique experience that reached beyond the diminishing market the other two were fixated on.

Apple is doing the same thing and taking it a step further. No matter what device you buy from Apple, you can have an a great experience and it will work with the other devices seemlessly. Most everything the typical consumer enjoys doing on their mac or iphone, they can do on their ipad. And let's not forget that Apple designs their products to feel as easy to use as a tv remote.
 
Not sure I'm convinced. The consumer electronics market is pretty much saturated now - there are few people out there without any computer, and many of us have several (desktop/laptop/smartphone/tablet).

This means much of the effort will go towards getting existing users to upgrade. How are Apple going to make iPad 2 users upgrade to the iPad 3, or the iPad 4 to the iPad 5, based on the 'experience'? I think as soon as Apple need us to upgrade again, and they've upped the specs, they'll be back talking to us about ppi, GHz and GB.
 
It's very well known that Engadget is very Pro-Apple. And I'm not being critical just sharing an observation.

It's no secret a proclamation like this from Apple is self serving. Yet I do not disagree completely. I believe it applies best to those home users who no longer need a PC with the advent of the iPad. These folks didn't need computers to begin with, but it was the only choice.

iPads are already able to replace the novices computer, so in that sense, we're there already. Witness the huge number of threads that ask "which model MBP should I get?". These people only think they need a computer. For far less money they can play games and surf the web. The average activities of novices. For this a tablet is fine.
 
whooleytoo said:
Not sure I'm convinced. The consumer electronics market is pretty much saturated now - there are few people out there without any computer, and many of us have several (desktop/laptop/smartphone/tablet).

This means much of the effort will go towards getting existing users to upgrade. How are Apple going to make iPad 2 users upgrade to the iPad 3, or the iPad 4 to the iPad 5, based on the 'experience'? I think as soon as Apple need us to upgrade again, and they've upped the specs, they'll be back talking to us about ppi, GHz and GB.
Click to expand...

Yes, but not in the traditional sense. Apple will use improved specifications to explain to users how the already great experience is enhanced. I understand your point, but Apple's prerogative is to create a consumer mindset that doesn't feel obligated to base purchasing decisions on raw numbers, but rather to choose which device provides the best experience.

Apple is creating a wonderfully immersive software platform to sell hardware. They don't want people to care what that hardware is. Whereas other companies want you to buy their hardware based on feeds and speeds.
 
My wife hardly ever used our Windows PC. It was too complicated and would freeze up, error out and just frustrate her. When we switched to the IMac, after a few minutes she was up and running and loves it, not because of specs (it is almost 4 years old), but because it is easy to use and just plain works.

I am a little concerned that when I get my iPad next week she will want to use it.
 
Just get her the first one, it should frustrate her as bad as windows due to all the crashes shell have when Trying to run graphic apps or multiple tabs in browsers.
 
The term post-PC device is actually not a new term that emerged this year. Steve Jobs actually referred to these devices in no uncertain terms during the D5 conference in 2007 with Bill Gates.

When the interviewer jokingly said that Steve Jobs would get in trouble for using such a term (post-PC implying the death of the PC), Steve shot back with a real fire in his eyes and said "Why?", followed by an intense stare-down. Simply epic.

Even if you've seen this video before, I highly recommend checking it out somewhere on youtube. Simply breathtaking how uncannily accurate and insightful their predictions were.

To get the real picture, you really have to watch those video clips from 2007. Then, you'll realize that Engadget is not really portraying the full picture when they write things like: "This week, Apple stepped into the 'post-PC' era of computing -- and there's no looking back, at least not for the folks in Cupertino."

My Point: Although Engadget's article wasn't off-base or anything , it seems to give the impression that Apple has suddenly introduced this concept into the vernacular. But in reality, Jobs and Apple have been full-force ahead with this for several years.
 
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