Personal computing has always been about scale and mobility. The original vacuum tube computers filled entire buildings. The integrated circuit solved that problem and gave rise to the personal computer. The PC gave rise to the laptop. The laptop gave rise to the smart phone. The smart phone doubled-back to spawn the iPad, generically known as the tablet.
And now, corporate giants will make bets on which hardware will carry them into the future. If their stock price and recent iPad sales trajectory are any indication, Apple made the right bet and will continue on that trend as evidenced by the recent commentary of Tim Cook during the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco. Here’s an excpert -
Apple CEO Tim Cook believes that tablets such as the iPad will outsell PCs in the coming years thanks to the explosive popularity of one-panel slates as well as innovation from tablet makers and app developers. “From the first day [the iPad] shipped, we thought that the tablet market would become larger than the PC market,” Cook said Tuesday during the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco. “I feel that stronger today than I did then.”
Following its 2010 launch, the iPad quickly became one of Apple’s most popular products, outselling the Mac in nearly every quarter, and, since mid-2010, even the iPod. More than 55 million Apple tablets have been sold to date. “This 55 million is something no one would have guessed, including us,” Cook said, noting that it took the iPhone three years to sell 55 million, while the iPad did it in less than two. “It’s on a trajectory that’s off the charts.”
But don’t peg Cook as someone who thinks the PC is on its way to the grave. Apple’s chief believes there’s still life left in desktop and laptop PCs, but the rise of one-panel touch tablets will eventually push the PC off its perch as most people’s go-to computing device.
Cook’s comments come just a few weeks before Apple is rumored to be unveiling the third iteration of the iPad on March 7. The next iPad is expected to have a faster processor and higher-resolution screen.
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