I listened this morning to a podcast where Steve Jobs was interviewed at the All Things D conference. He talked (around 45 min mark) about the post-PC world. I thought it was a pretty interesting analogy He states:
When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks because that’s what you needed on the farm. As vehicles started to be used in urban centers, and as America started to move into those urban centers, cars got more popular and innovations like automatic transmissions, power steering and things you didn’t care about in a truck started to become paramount in cars. Today, maybe 1 in 25 or 1 in 30 vehicles is a truck where it used to be 100%. PC’s are going to be like trucks. They will still be around and provide a lot of value but they will be used by 1 out of X people.
This transformation will make some people uneasy. People from the PC world, like you and me becasue PC’s have taken us a long way. It’s brilliant. We talk about the post-PC era but when it really starts to happen, i think it’s uncomfortable for a lot of people. Because it’s change. A lot of vested interests will change. Things will be different. I think we’re embarked on that. Is it the iPad? Who knows? Will it happen next year, 5 years from now, 7 years from now? Who knows? But we’re headed there.
The post-PC world is interesting. I find myself doing more and more on my iPhone and i can see a day where i don’t bring my laptop with me on trips anymore as the iPad and a keyboard will be plenty.
