The Blog Subscribe
The term “post-PC era” is wrong
We have heard Apple talking about the post-PC era for over a year now, since the introduction of the iPad back in January of 2010. Looking a few months into the future I'd argue that that, for the iOS devices at least, is finally becoming realistic. iOS 5 is the final piece of the puzzle that really lets these machines take on their own lives without being tied to a PC in order to function, cutting the cable, if you will.
But the very term of "post-PC era" is by design ill conceived when you really think about what they are gunning for. It's not more difficult than going back to yourself and asking some very basic, easy questions:
- Would you feel hesitant to let someone use your computer (PC)?
- Would you feel hesitant to let someone use your iPad?
- Would you feel hesitant to let someone use your iPhone/iPod Touch?
I'm fairly sure most people won't mind letting other people, guests or other temporary visitors in your home, use your computer for a while, should they need to. I'm not quite so sure that would be the case for your iPad or your iPhone. For these devices there is a much more personal connection made, not consciously perhaps, but it is there. By their very design, it's a more intimate experience. We interact with it in a very tactile manner, something that in our biological design means intimacy.
The iPad is a very personal computer, but it is also a very social computer. For viewing things on it there is no problem with passing it around, but for using it, there is. We gladly share it around, but not as much as we would be prepared to do with a laptop or desktop machine. The nimble size and ease of use makes it the perfect device to pass between people, regardless of their age or experience with computers.
Same thing with the smaller iPhone and iPod Touch, only these are as personal as our mobile phones of the past. Not something we pass around too much, but rather prefer to keep close to our own hands. A very personal computer, if anything. And a computer is it by every definition of the word. Communication-centric, but a very capable computer none the less.
Comparably, I'd say these new touch devices are more personal than any other computer we have had in the past.
Then I could get into the whole argument about how the term "PC" has completely lost its meaning. In the computer industry it has become synonymous with Windows, rather than the platform or concept, if you will. Apple made tons of advertising aimed at a simple comparison between the Mac and the "PC", referring to all the computers out there running Windows. Partly true, most computers in the PC class do run windows, but what is a Mac if not a PC in itself? It's a runaway piece of terminology that hasn't been evaluated for many, many years.
In short, it's a mess! I sometimes think it would be best if we make a joint effort and scrap the old terms and just go for "computer", plain and simple. Would make things a lot easier when you think about it. From our smartphone in the pocket to the big monster on our desks, they would all just be computers. Which, you know, they are. Some more personal than others, but you don't go calling your car your "personal car". It's just a car. Your car, but that's it. I guess it just sounds better in marketing, specially since the term is already so widely abused beyond what it is supposed to mean.
Regardless of what, the personal computer has been here, is here and will be here for quite some time. No matter what shape, size and class of devices it comes in!
Robert Falck
Robert is a freelance tech journalist from Sweden. You can follow his posts here on Bagel Tech and on his site streakmachine.com or you can follow him on twitter @streakmachine.
Author
Robert Falck