Thread: Steve Jobs Predicts Tablets will Replace PCs. What do you think?

In this week's edition of "Steve Jobs Said What!?," the CEO Maximum PC readers love to loathe told The Wall Street Journal PCs aren't long for this world, while devices like tablets are the wave of the future.



"The transformation of the PC to new form factors like the tablet is going to make some people uneasy because the PC has taken us a long ways," Jobs said in response to a question by The Wall Street Journal's Steve Mossberg. "The PC is brilliant ... and we like to talk about the post-PC era, but it's uncomfortable."

Jobs went on to say that "PCs are like trucks," making a reference to a time when trucks used by farmers were more common than cars. Does he have a point?

"He's certainly being provocative," said Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. "It's a bit too early to tell whether tablets will displace PCs for most users."

What do you think? Will tablets ever replace PCs?

What are your thoughts one this?

For the record I think Steve Jobs is nuts. Although I understand some may agree with the statement I for one do not.

If anyone owns an Ipad I would love to know what your thoughts are on the product as well.

Steve Jobs always says the craziest thing possible to get the most free advertisement possible. He's just generating buzz making sure any untapped areas of the market are aware of his new toy, but it's just a toy, and all the competing tablets of the future will just be toys too.

I borrowed an iPad for a couple weeks while the owner was on vacation and didn't want to take it in case it would get damaged or stolen. It's fun but it doesn't do anything more than what the web can already do for you on a full computer, except have a touch screen interface. It, and any competing tablets released in the future, will also be limited by a lot of things that will keep them at the level of toys and not replacements for PCs. Since many won't be running a full operating system, like the iPad, they'll never be viable for business use because every corporation has their own poorly designed applications that usually only work on a specific generation of windows. They also won't be able to overtake PCs in the field of home use programs because each generation of desktop computer will outclass each generation of tablet and because of this, many applications newer features and capabilities will not be usable on tablets.

As an example of this kind of issue, I think I read that Adobe was working to bring a version of photoshop to the iPad. While it sounds great to be able to do photo editing at your finger tips, I wonder how much of photoshop's features are going to be sacrificed so that the iPad can run it without each edit taking a frustratingly long time? Maybe in the next generation of tablets, or the one after that, they will be capable of running todays most recent version of photoshop without crashing, freezing, or just taking a long time to do everything. But maybe a couple tablet generations from now, there will be a better version of photoshop that everyone will need to use because it does something better, works faster, or has a new feature people never dreamed of but have a million uses for.

If tablets were cheaper, I would actually probably get one. Not an iPad, because I don't want to use an app store or have a product that should run like a computer but it runs like a phone. But maybe when there's a tablet that's somewhere between a netbook and a PC while costing less than an apple toy, I'll be ready to buy. But as much fun as I had with that iPad, there's no way I would buy one. It's not just the price, it's the fact that it does nothing new that I can't already do, and that what it does do is basically fill in the moments of your life where you're super super bored and there's absolutely nothing better you could be doing than finding some random funny game or app.

Personally I like the ideal of using photoshop on a tablet, however I agree with you in the wondering how much of the program will be sacrificed.

Honestly for Steve Jobs to make such a statement whether it's for the "free advertising" or not makes me wonder if he even know what most typical PC users do and or need out of a PC.

Oh wait I forgot how would he know because according to him a Mac in not a personal computer stupid me! :001_tongue:

I think the iPad will replace many of the functions we use a personal pc for, but I seriously doubt it will ever completely replace them, the iPad or any tablet is just a smaller version of a laptop, it does well for many things but I love my 21" monitor thank you..
Yes Steve Jobs is a bit wacky and that reference about trucks, what we don't have trucks anymore ??

:P i dont ever see them tablet pc's taking over the desktop's. Most people probably buy them just because there new and cool but they can never match the things normal pc's could. Im a pc gamer :P would be very hard to play games on it.....unless it turns into something like the wii that has a motion sensor then racing games would be fun on it.

Never..The kind of flexibility and ruggedness achieved by desktops,a tablet will never achieve.
Also, i believe the notebooks claiming to be desktop replacements are just kidding themselves...


"No one will need more than 637 kb of memory for a personal computer. - said in the early 1970s - Bill Gates"

PC rules for me.....for ever...!!

Maybe an ipad with windows could work, but its very early to tell, there are many things that are still too new to be evaluated, a re-design of OS is what will have to come next.
A Desk top is still far more upgradable, more powerful and flexible in configuration, if you can mix ipad + desktops that would be awesome but for the short term I doubt ipad can replace desk tops, still long ways to go.

from my point of view this is redicioulus as far as i know no one will leave the big screen of a pc or a nice keyboard for a tablet ,they are in two different worldsn those that thing a 7 inch pad will be able to handle all things that pc do.Also i think that ipad target the fanboys as netbooks can do things better :P