IBM Declares the End of the PC Era

[Nickmix]

Are we living in a "post-PC" world? Steve Jobs thinks so, and he often refers to the iPad as a "post-PC" device. Now an IBM executive has added fuel to the fire--its Chief Technology Officer for the Middle East and Africa region, Mark Dean, says the company did the right thing in getting out of the PC business.
August 12 marks the 30th anniversary of the IBM 5150 PC, which was widely considered to be the beginning of the PC era. IBM, for years, lead the way in ensuring a PC in every home, a campaign which in turn spurred an industry that now sells hundreds of millions of units each year.
Jobs and Dean: Strange Bedfellows
Considering that Dean was on the team that helped shape IBM's PC business, his commentary is stunning. He lauds the company for selling its computer business to Lenovo in 2005.
"While many in the tech industry questioned IBM's decision to exit the business at the time, it's now clear that our company was in the vanguard of the post-PC era," Dean wrote in a blog post Wednesday.
Whoa, did he really just say that? Yes he did, and he goes on to say that he himself has moved beyond the PC. Without disclosing which brand he's using, Dean admits his primary computing device is now a tablet.
The PC is no longer at the leading edge of computing, and Dean argues that services--not another computing device--are leading the way.
His argument makes sense: look at the rise of social networking. The service itself is key, not the hardware it's running on. This is true across a range of other computer industry sectors as well.
The PC Plus Era, Not the Post PC Era
Obviously everyone's not going to agree. In a separate blog post, Microsoft Corporate Communications Chief Frank Shaw says he likes to think of the current state of computing as the "PC-plus" era. He adds that over 400 million PCs will be shipped in 2011 alone.
"We'll continue to lead the industry forward in bringing technology to the next billion (or 2 billion or 6 billion) people on our planet," Shaw writes. "We'll do that as we always have, by working with our partners to deliver amazing experiences to individuals and businesses."
That certainly sounds to me like Microsoft thinks the PC as a platform will be around for a long, long time.
I happen to agree with Jobs--and now Dean's--position. The PC as we know it is done. As our computing lives move onto the cloud, raw computing power is becoming less and less important. The intense computing is happening on the server side and not on your home computer.

More - IBM Declares the End of the PC Era | PCWorld

 

[Lebon14]

They all say it's the end of PCs bu in fact, we are all still using them. Oh and btw, I don't use any mobile device. PCs FTW.

 

[smarteyeball]

Are we living in a "post-PC" world? Steve Jobs thinks so

I don't.

 

[NeroDevil]

Bah, not the first time this has been mentioned...and guess what? PC's are still here.

 

[TVeblen]

The end of the PC?

Steve Jobs, the major competition, thinks so.

IBM, the company that made the biggest business gaffe of the 20th century, thinks so.

Mmmm. Do I see a pattern here?

 

[Schroff87]

*yawn* been reading the end of the pc comments since the late 90's but here I am writing this on the PC. They probably want to enter the tablet or cloud business I suppose or maybe just want some quick publicity

 

[Tarka Dal]

They all say it's the end of PCs bu in fact, we are all still using them. Oh and btw, I don't use any mobile device. PCs FTW.

Bah, not the first time this has been mentioned...and guess what? PC's are still here.

The end of the PC?

Steve Jobs, the major competition, thinks so.

IBM, the company that made the biggest business gaffe of the 20th century, thinks so.

Mmmm. Do I see a pattern here?

*yawn* been reading the end of the pc comments since the late 90's but here I am writing this on the PC. They probably want to enter the tablet or cloud business I suppose or maybe just want some quick publicity

Do you all live blinkered lives.

 

[Teerex]

It's funny that every piece of this marketing bull that comes along is studiously and approvingly reported.

The truth of the matter is that *high profit margin* has permanently abandoned the PC industry. It's now a staple industry.

But tablets and smartphones, well they make every CEO salivate over the margins. They made Apple the gargantuan well designed pile of money it now is, didn't they?

And the rest of the food chain agrees. The phone companies, charging and overcharging for 3g/4g/+ internet service, they like them soooo much.

And so we have these journalistic hacks paid by the letter writing this bullcrap every now and then.

 

[seth500]

PC's are going to be here for years to come nothing is coming to an end here..

 

[Teerex]

:d

 

[Coke Robot]

I read an article like this yesterday on Tom's, and IBM compares the PC to incandescent light bulbs, vinyl records, and typewriters. The thing is that the PC has been around for about 30 years, all those other technologies have been around for at least a 100 years. So well see.

 

[Barman58]

I think we are more likely to be nearer to the end of the Steve Jobs era, and are definitely in the post IBM era

 

[Lebon14]

Do you all live blinkered lives.

What? What does "blinkered" mean?

 

[DustSailor]

They all say it's the end of PCs bu in fact, we are all still using them. Oh and btw, I don't use any mobile device. PCs FTW.

Bah, not the first time this has been mentioned...and guess what? PC's are still here.

The end of the PC?

Steve Jobs, the major competition, thinks so.

IBM, the company that made the biggest business gaffe of the 20th century, thinks so.

Mmmm. Do I see a pattern here?

*yawn* been reading the end of the pc comments since the late 90's but here I am writing this on the PC. They probably want to enter the tablet or cloud business I suppose or maybe just want some quick publicity

Do you all live blinkered lives.

Do you all live blinkered lives.

What? What does "blinkered" mean?

He's calling you singular-minded, blind, or stubborn-willed. Basically thinks you and others are blind to the "truth"

 

[pparks1]

I heard some radio show yesterday saying that computers were defunct now and having an iPad2 would do everything you need. They couldn't believe a device like the iPAD2 was the universal replacement for the PC.

I'm not sold on tablets whatsoever. I've used them all, and don't like any of them. I really, really, don't. I've used the iPad, the ePed, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the BlackBerry Playbook, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and they are all neat to play around with and surf the web...but to get any real work done or to post on forum sites with lots of typing...i immediately set down the tablet and grab my laptop. I absolutely despise typing on a touchscreen.

 

[JaidynM]

I wouldn't be suprised if both Jobs and Dean used multiple PC's; both at home and work.

 

[vrosa]

I don't see PCs coming to an end, at least in the next 10 years. I have 1 laptop and 6 working PCs in my home office and will certainly build another rig in the near future... but no small device. I also agree that it's all about marketing.

 

[Britton30]

Keep buying them, they will come and make them.

 

[fseal]

I don't even know how IBM gets off saying /anything/ about the PC buisness.

They created and immediately LOST it, struggled forever to keep up, always losing, finally giving up and selling off their entire PC buisness.

They reall never "got" PCs even being the inventer of the modern "PC".

So how do they know enough suddenly NOW to say it's over? I think you can pretty much take everything IBM says about the PC buisness and invert it and have a better stab at the truth

 

[mikedl]

I heard some radio show yesterday saying that computers were defunct now and having an iPad2 would do everything you need. They couldn't believe a device like the iPAD2 was the universal replacement for the PC.

I'm not sold on tablets whatsoever. I've used them all, and don't like any of them. I really, really, don't. I've used the iPad, the ePed, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the BlackBerry Playbook, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and they are all neat to play around with and surf the web...but to get any real work done or to post on forum sites with lots of typing...i immediately set down the tablet and grab my laptop. I absolutely despise typing on a touchscreen.

Agreed. Try running AutoCAD 2012 on an iPad. You can't. Try running PhotoShop on an iPad. You can't. All an iPad is good for is playing games, checking email and getting immersed in social networks.

The PC dead? Hardly. Not for a long time to come. Maybe once we all get 100Mbps internet, perhaps. Still, what happens if your connection goes down?

Cloud computing is an esoteric endeavor but it will be a while before it becomes even remotely ubiquitous as PCs.