

We are not in a post-PC era - evanw
http://www.techerator.com/2012/03/4-reasons-why-we-are-not-in-a-post-pc-age/

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holri
Since More's Law stalled there is no incentive to buy a new PC / Laptop these
days. So the industry had to invent new form factors to sell new devices. It
is not a Post PC age it is a Post PC growth age. That does not mean nobody is
using real computers, only nobody is buying them because the old one is good
enough.

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cbo
Sure, I guess we aren't in a post-PC era. Yet.

I don't even own a tablet of any kind, but the reasons the author gives for
dismissing them are extremely short-sighted.

The reason people still use PCs for email, office applications, and graphics
applications has absolutely nothing to do with how suited tablets are to those
domains, and everything to do with market inertia. It takes time to convert to
a new system of doing anything. As more and more people move to tablets, you
can expect all of the author's points to change overnight.

There are plenty of office applications for iOS and Android. Off the top of my
head, I know that much of the iWork suite and Google Docs both have native
apps for their respective OSes, and I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest
to find Microsoft Office on WP7. As people start to use these more at home,
they'll slowly start to creep into offices as well. I don't know if Photoshop
(or anything like it) exists on a mobile OS, but the Photoshop interface seems
like it would translate almost perfectly to a touchscreen. Again, as more
people start to use it, more offices will start to use it.

Games like World of Warcraft and Skyrim are targeted towards the PCs because
that's where the hardcore gamers are. But games like Angry Birds and Cut the
Rope are on tablets because that's where everyone else is. But as hardcore
gamers move to tablets, game studios will start building their games for
mobile OSes. John Carmack has already moved Id in this direction, releasing
their latest game on iOS, and it's only a matter of time before others follow
suit.

Ergonomics are almost a non-issue. Almost every tablet owner I've ever seen
has a stand of some sort or another, and many who do serious work also have a
keyboard.

Which brings us to his last point that a tablet with a keyboard is "basically
a desktop". This is about as useful as saying that a mobile phone with a
bluetooth headset is just a phone. That hasn't stopped bluetooth headsets or
mobile phones from selling like crazy, and the same can be said for tablets
and keyboards.

I doubt the computer is going to leave wholesale, but I think it's crazy to
believe that tablets won't start taking huge chunks out of their market share
within just a few short years.

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United857
Jobs himself had a good analogy, cars vs. trucks:

<http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20006526-56.html>

"When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks because that's what you
needed on the farms." Cars became more popular as cities rose, and things like
power steering and automatic transmission became popular. "PCs are going to be
like trucks," Jobs said. "They are still going to be around." However, he
said, only "one out of x people will need them."

For the office, and content-creation in general, you'll still need PCs, but
for content consumption in the home, tablets are good enough for most
purposes, just like a truck is overkill for say, a run to the grocery store or
dropping the kids off at school.

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jakeonthemove
Post PC = Post Industrial. PCs, just like heavy industries, aren't going
anywhere, but tablets, smartphones and (finally, yes!) wearable glasses, just
like the service industry, are going to be the next thing to grow
exponentially...

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kenrikm
"Microsoft trained consultant" the first question I would ask is for him to
explain Windows 8 and the metro interface? It seems that even Microsoft sees
where things are headed and is making changes to stay relevant post "PC".
Let's be clear, no one thinks that PCs (desktops, laptops) are going to die
overnight however the market will not see the growth it had in the past. For
the time being there will be a place for traditional desktops and laptops
however the need for them in the average users home is quickly fading.

Posted from my iPad.

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Impossible
His gaming examples are pretty weak. Outside of World of Warcraft, all of the
games he mentioned were played by more players on console than they were on
PC. He even says "Phones and tablets now have power and graphical grunt to
rival dedicated consoles." Then again, he might consider consoles to be PCs,
or part of the "PC era."

I always assumed post PC meant there was also some kind of console or set top
box in the house for things people want to experience in there living room,
and it didn't mean only phones and tablets.

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funkah
Clueless.

