I think not.
We have, no doubt about it, entered the post-PC era, and we can’t say goodbye to the PC as we’ve known it soon enough. Thanks to inept architectural design and coding coupled with outstanding marketing on the part of Microsoft, the PC has, over the years, turned into a popular but sad parody of itself – slow, bloated complex, unreliable; really, an IT support person’s dream with a guarantee of full employment forever. But computing really shouldn’t be like that – it should be fluid, flexible, intuitive – everything that the iPad claims to be. And, cool, though it is, the iPad announced yesterday is at its heart simply the next step in the consumerization of IT, still insufficient to replace the PC on its own merits alone.
And, interestingly, Apple did not position the latest and greatest iPad as such. Of course, they’d be silly to, being in the notebook business after all. But it is now very clear that consumers of information will be using tablets as their primary tool for the foreseeable future – there’s just nothing else competitive here. This likely implies that the low-end notebook (
The new iPad, which I’m sure many will refer to as the iPad 3 even though Apple is apparently going all Cher and Madonna on us now, was unsurprising. Apple usually does such a good job of keeping announcements secret, but Apple’s food chain is now so vast that leaks are likely to be a way of life from this point forward. So, nothing unexpected, and at least we weren’t disappointed as was the case with the iPhone 4S. Faster processor – check. Longer battery life – check. Amazing, high-resolution display – check (I wonder if there’ll be a “under 40” and “over 40” mode, since the resolution is so good that only the very young will be able to clearly see certain details under some circumstances). 1080p – check. LTE – check. “Siri-like” (as it was described in some news pieces) speech (“Dictation”; I wonder how well that will work) – check. Updated apps – check. No change in price – check. Am I missing anything of importance here?
Since I didn’t get an iPad 2, I’m going to order one of these – even though most of the enhancements are clearly incremental, the very-high-resolution screen in my mind justifies the tariff. And I think the pent-up demand generated by all of the leaked details will undoubtedly lead to a rash of maybe-I’m-wrong-and-the-tablet-really-can-replace-a-PC reevaluations. I’ll let you know if I change my mind here, but don’t count on it. And, in the meantime, my MacBook Air is seeing increasing use, and I’ll bet yours will as well.
