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Computerworld has an interesting opinion piece up predicting the demise of the desktop personal computer.
In it, the author gives Apple the credit for driving a stake through the heart of the soon to be defunct PC. Not Apple desktop units, but iPhone and iPad type devices.
And there will still be PCs years from now. You might scoff at my proclamation about the PC's demise, but the fact that Windows-based PCs still outsell Macs by a ratio of about 24 to 1 -- PC sales of 65 million vs. 3.1 million Macs in the latest quarter -- is really quite irrelevant. This isn't a matter of Macs finally outselling Windows or Linux-based PCs. That's never going to happen.
What has happened, though, is that Apple has earned its billions and the respect of stock-buyers by switching its focus from desktops and laptops to tablets and mobile devices. Just as the rise of the PC spelled the eventual decline, and sometimes demise, of such mainframe and midrange computer companies as DEC, Honeywell and Unisys, the rise of devices with built-in computing power and high-speed networking points the way to the fall of the PC-centric companies.
-GT-
Soloist can only be experienced - for one's perception determines which of his attributes are displayed...
Never gonna happen. The iPhone and iPad, in conjunction with cheaper laptops, are likely to eventually kill off the netbook subgenre, but a device like the iPad (and especially not the iPhone) is no replacement for a desktop computer, and never will be. Simple reason: cost. Consider this:
1) Tablet computers are always going to be more expensive than desktops, simply because they're laptops and therefore have to have compact-sized components. Those always, always cost more than their normal-sized equivalents, and buyers who don't have any need for mobility aren't going to want to spend the extra money like that. I'm thinking in part of home users, but especially of workstations at large businesses. Same thing goes for the integrated screen. All it does is jack up the cost compared to a standalone monitor.
2) Due to the extra cost of smaller parts and the integrated screen, you never get as much computing power with a laptop as you do with a desktop for the same amount of money. If you're not taking the thing with you anyway, which lots of people don't, why not get more for your money?
3) Many people will want a larger screen than what's on a tablet computer for when they're not on the go. Sure, you could plug an external screen and keyboard into it, but then it's no different from an overpriced, underpowered desktop.
Besides, if smartphones keep becoming more and more able to do computer functions, people could just have a desktop for home and a smartphone for everywhere else. If anything, it seems to me like the iPhone's natural competition is the iPad and other laptops, not desktops.
Besides, if smartphones keep becoming more and more able to do computer functions, people could just have a desktop for home and a smartphone for everywhere else. If anything, it seems to me like the iPhone's natural competition is the iPad and other laptops, not desktops.
And don't forget the Android based phones. They are really stepping up and taking over. I think the iphones are about done for since Android/droid was released and now getting better. I have one and have messed around with several iphones and don't care much for the iphone or AT&T. Windows based phones I heard were horrible but never messed with one.It has Miscrosux's OS on it and I have to much experience in how bad the Desktop OS's are.
Apple screwed up by only letting one carrier have the iphone,heck around here AT&T does not offer 3G service so I can only imagine how slow it is for those people with them in my city. Only Verizon and T-Mobile offer 3G in my area.
You thought you'd get away, but Karma made its move
The bad things that you've done, will be coming back for you
It's really sad that we're at the end, but my heart won't let me feel
No sympathy or pain for the outcome you've ensued...Queensrÿche 2013
You're probably right that Verizon's vastly broader 3G network is giving a huge boost to Android-based smartphone sales. AT&T claims that their 3G network is faster, but even if that's true, all the speed in the world doesn't do you squat worth of good if there's no coverage where you live. Android-based smartphones have gotten a lot better lately, too, from what I've read. Some of them can go toe-to-toe with the iPhone in pretty much every aspect, if not beat it.
Frong wrote:You're probably right that Verizon's vastly broader 3G network is giving a huge boost to Android-based smartphone sales. AT&T claims that their 3G network is faster, but even if that's true, all the speed in the world doesn't do you squat worth of good if there's no coverage where you live. Android-based smartphones have gotten a lot better lately, too, from what I've read. Some of them can go toe-to-toe with the iPhone in pretty much every aspect, if not beat it.
Yeah the new ones can out perform the iphone.I have a new one coming since my junk Samsung doesn't seem to hold up well. I am going with the HTC My Touch 3G.T-Mobile discounted it for me at $149.99 and replacing the Samsung for the 3rd time so I'll sell off the Samsung and pay for the HTC
I know cell service around here isn't the best for AT&T or Sprint,neither offer 3G. T-Mobile just started offering it this year and Verizon has held the market here with 3G for a long time.It makes a huge difference and I'll never go back to anything slower.It's like going from dial up to DSL
You thought you'd get away, but Karma made its move
The bad things that you've done, will be coming back for you
It's really sad that we're at the end, but my heart won't let me feel
No sympathy or pain for the outcome you've ensued...Queensrÿche 2013
I can't see that ever happening, either. I have a BlackBerry myself with 3G and all else, but it's nothing I could see replacing my comp at home... it's a lesser companion to it if anything. Just a tool of convenience allowing me to access online, email, messaging, etc. on the go. Using a PC at home is far more comfy and better viewing on a big screen.
I'd never give up my home computers for a small one either. But it is nice how technology has allowed us to use the internet on a cell phone.
You thought you'd get away, but Karma made its move
The bad things that you've done, will be coming back for you
It's really sad that we're at the end, but my heart won't let me feel
No sympathy or pain for the outcome you've ensued...Queensrÿche 2013
I don't personally have a smartphone, and while I can see the convenience of being able to access the internet on your phone, it also seems like a major distraction to me that I can probably live without most of the time. People have been constantly interrupted by cell phones for years already, but now they're also interrupted by texts, emails, time-wasting mobile games, and the desire to look up random crap on the internet. It makes me wonder sometimes how anyone remembers what they're doing for more than five seconds.
Frong wrote:I don't personally have a smartphone, and while I can see the convenience of being able to access the internet on your phone, it also seems like a major distraction to me that I can probably live without most of the time. People have been constantly interrupted by cell phones for years already, but now they're also interrupted by texts, emails, time-wasting mobile games, and the desire to look up random crap on the internet. It makes me wonder sometimes how anyone remembers what they're doing for more than five seconds.
With my job,sitting in a car and staring into space isn't to appealing to me anymore. Now I can sit in the car waiting on a run and use the internet or talk to someone or whatever on my phone. If it wasn't for the job I have I wouldn't need a smart phone.
You thought you'd get away, but Karma made its move
The bad things that you've done, will be coming back for you
It's really sad that we're at the end, but my heart won't let me feel
No sympathy or pain for the outcome you've ensued...Queensrÿche 2013
Well yeah, I sure as crap can't blame you there. If my job involved sitting around all day and waiting for something to happen, I'd need the internets to avoid going insane from boredom, too. When I graduate from grad school and get a job as an elementary teacher, I won't have to worry about that, though. Rather, I'll probably wish I had even a little bit of free time, as opposed to the almost none that I'll most likely be stuck with at first.
I got my new phone today and have been messing with it. What really has caught my attention is the navigation system that it has.It uses google maps and you can use street level mapping to see what's around you to make sure you are in the right place. That will be a very useful thing since my job involves driving into sometimes unknown places. Can't wait to go to work to try it out lol.
There are a lot of changes from my old phone to the new one.My old phone ran the Android 1.5 OS the new one has 1.6 but suppose to get 2.1 OS this summer.
I think the Android market is going to kill the iphone market eventually. The are making a lot of progress with the updates to the software. Can't wait to see what 2.1 OS has to offer.
Another app I installed was for my wallpaper.I can have random shots from a webcam from different locations or I can set it to 1 cam.It updates the picture every so often I think every 30 minutes.I have my set on Earth over North America!Might try the random one eventually. So many new things to try out on this phone.
You thought you'd get away, but Karma made its move
The bad things that you've done, will be coming back for you
It's really sad that we're at the end, but my heart won't let me feel
No sympathy or pain for the outcome you've ensued...Queensrÿche 2013
Sounds like you're placing your bets on Google in the Google vs. Apple title fight. Honestly, I'm inclined to do the same thing. If you give each side roughly equal technology (which Google will almost inevitably get from one phone manufacturer or the other), then Google has the edge with all its money, resources and data-gathering power. That and it doesn't go for style over substance. That's not to say that Apple product don't have substance, but I don't think they'll ever get over their obsession with having their products look shiny and be a status symbol or something.
