New iPad
The new iPad got launched today. And it has some mighty nice bells and whistles. But that’s not what I want to mention here. There is something much more surprising happening in the back rooms of business. It’s called trashing the PC, those beige desktops, and hello to the iPad.
Some time ago I wrote an article about the demise of the PC as we know it. I didn’t really have any idea what would replace that cumbersome bit of box with umbilical cables monstrosity. I just felt that its time was nigh. And something had to be developed to get rid of it. I got a lot of flack for that article. Even some ranters. Which is truly stupid because everything will be different. It just takes time. Sometimes a bit longer, others not so long.
I mean who would have thought the horse and buggy would be put into the museum? Not the people driving them, that’s for sure. And the car took a while to take over as people fought against them. But progress will happen regardless of the nay sayers. And this principle applies to the PC as well.
Sure, I’m not talking about the film industry, or the designers who need those big super charged machines to do their design work. That’s a specialised job and the very quick PC or Apple computer will do the job. I’m talking about the ordinary everyday machine that does our tasks for us. Like me typing on my MacBook Air right now writing this blog. That kind of work. The ones with spreadsheets, word processing power, powerpoint (keynote obviously for me) and mail /browser facilities.
So here’s the snipped of news I want to share with you. Apple pushed its 25 billionth app this weekend. (beginning of March 2012). Nothing surprising here. Mostly games and novelty apps for the iPhone. But here’s the kicker that should make Dell, HP and Microsoft amongst others tremble in their boots.
The number one app of all time for the iPad was Pages. Apple’s word processing app. And Numbers and Keynote were on the list as well. QuickOffice Pro HD, Notability and Splashtop Remote Desktop. Almost 25% of the list was comprised of productivity apps.
What does that mean? It means that business folk have taken to the iPad in droves. Of course it could have been noticeable to the observant who might have seen the uptake of iPad’s at the local branch of a coffee shop chain where the iCrowd congregates. What has surprised the fundis though is the speed with which this uptake has happened.
But why should they be surprised. Wouldn’t you rather take a tablet around in your handbag instead of a 4kg laptop in your massively padded backpack? Even I am investing in a bigger sling bag for my Air rather than the monster thing I shlepped around my MacBook pro with.
And for those of you still wondering about this? The new iPad comes with a dictating feature. Don’t like to type on the touch screen? Talk to the hand. Err. Talk to the machine. How fabulous is that? For the full article check it out here.
I see what you mean here. Progress is certain. And it does look like the machinary the avarage user uses for surfing the web, readin an e-book etc could easily not be the big old fat PC but it could easily be done with the new fit tablets.
The New iPad has many lack, including too hot after several hours used.