“Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people. They will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else, other than their phones,” Cook argues in his distinctly Southern accent (he was born in Alabama). He highlights two other markets for his 12.9 inch devices, which go on sale online on Wednesday. The first are creatives: “if you sketch then it’s unbelievable..you don’t want to use a pad anymore,” Cook says.
Aside from the fact that the death of the PC has been predicted just as often as the death of Apple, I’m obviously not going to claim the man successfully running the largest company in the world is wrong, but I am going to state I’m rather skeptical of the iPad Pro. I predicted the original iPad would do well, but this Microsoft Surface clone?
The doubt is very real.
He should try using a tablet for anything complex. Rich text editor? Audio / video / image processing and graphics? Programming editor / IDE? And so on, and so forth. Yeah, right. PC is so dead, that it’s needed to create things that will be used on those tablets he declared are going to replace it.
Limitations of current human interfaces for tablets make them inadequate to replace PCs fully. So PCs obviously will stay for any foreseeable future. When new rich and functional interfaces will be developed, which could be combined with small portable computers (for example 3D / holographic kind of interfaces that pop up in the air or something of that sort), then may be the classic PC might retire.
Edited 2015-11-10 17:23 UTC
No, you just didn’t understand him.
Re read the summary
Basically, it comes down to how many people using PC’s actually do any of that?
I fully agree with you on this point.
I would even say you can replace 6.9 milliard people with a single iPad Pro.
Quite enough for PCs to be widely used still. Anyone who uses computers for anything creative will rather use PC than tablet interfaces for that.
Plus, there are also gamers who are after high end hardware for demanding games.
Edited 2015-11-10 22:15 UTC
Citation needed. Anything creative? Like everyone, that edits photos for personal use?
Or everyone that uses Adobe creative studio/cloud?
There is a wide range of talent and ability in just the word “creative”. I’m sure everyone would want to be considered to be “creative”. But I don’t think they all need PC’s at this point.
Yes, image editing (whether raster or vector) isn’t something you’d do on a tablet if you care about productivity. Using a tablet for drawing (with a stylus) is a separate use case which is addressed by tablets like Wacom and the like which are just controllers that work with other computers anyway.
Edited 2015-11-11 07:46 UTC
I remember in the 1990s, many, many people said Linux wouldn’t conquer the desktop since it had so lousy copy & paste. Now many, many people apparently will want to go for something whose copy & paste is infinitely worse.
I’m sure some will, but most people won’t: it’s as expensive as a higher-end laptop, and does far less, far worse. The people that crave the retarded simplicity of a console won’t pay the price of a real computer.
Have you ever tried to send an email that has 2 (or more) locally stored attachements? Just a very simple action that every user from time to time wants to do. It is pathetic to see how difficult this is on a iPad.
The correct phrase is: the iPad can be a replacement for many people for some of their computing tasks
Edited 2015-11-11 09:53 UTC
Apple’s key demographic used to be professionals, particularly those in the graphics industry. Now it has jumped over ‘prosumers’ to the Facebook generation for its target market. For that, a Speak & Spell is more than enough.
Tim is clearly talking about the people who matter to Apple now, not those who used to.
There are also gamers who aren’t going to replace their high end computers with weak tablets for games.
Overall, there are enough use cases for PC to be used alongside mobile computers.
Edited 2015-11-10 22:12 UTC
Game playing enthusiasts rarely use Apple computers, which might be part of the break down in communication here. Perhaps Tim just meant “Apple’s desktop computers”.
I meant above PC in general (vs. tablets in general), and not anything related to Apple in particular.
Edited 2015-11-11 07:44 UTC
this. sad but true. when apple was “struggling” it was because they focused primarily on professionals, small businesses, and perfectionists.
apple is taking heat in all of the major digital production modes: video, audio, animation, web programming, etc.. each of these markets is feeling pushed out to make way for more new iPhone and iPad customers.
as apple becomes a consumer electronics company it’s obvious that their “apple computer” customers will eventually look elsewhere.
i know in audio i jumped off the digital upgrade revenue stream and went back to analog. no point in spending more and more to get farther and farther away from reality. recording is about reality and the manipulation of reality.
He didn’t actually pronounce the death of the PC. He simply said many people would use an iPad Pro rather than a PC which is pretty much a given because ‘many’ people use the current iPad in lieu of a PC.
IMHO for many people it’s more common to use tablets and handsets as complimentary devices to PC, and not as a replacement. That’s what I hear even from non-technical people I know. So I don’t agree with his assessment.
Edited 2015-11-10 22:10 UTC
Honestly that is what killed Windows 8, its UI was designed for consumption and not creation.
As for tablets? Yeah last figures I saw had iPad sales dropping, didn’t they? If it was “all people needed” wouldn’t they be buying more and not less? I deal with real folks every single day and when I ask them about their tablets, know what I hear? They are 1.- Either gathering dust in a sock drawer, or 2.- being used by one of the kiddies as a portable video and game player. They just quickly grow tired of the limitations and end up just sticking with the laptop.
And can we PLEASE stop with the “death of the PC” crap? I’ve been selling PCs since the Shat sold VIC20s and PC ARE NOT DEAD, wanna know why sales have gone down? Its really simple….PCs are insanely overpowered, that’s why! What does Joe and Jane average do that the C2Q they got in 08 can’t do? Nothing. Heck this even applies to gaming now, my old Phenom II quad is happily being used by the wife to play the latest MMOs, software simply hasn’t caught up with hardware. Will PCs go away? Nope they simply have become appliances, like your washer you just don’t replace until the previous dies, that is all.
Depends what you want to program. I used Codea and wrote some cool little games in Lua. Does that count, or do you mean “real” programming… because for me, real programming involved multiple screens, 2 or more instances of Visual Studio open and a processor that can compile my code in the minimum time possible – an average laptop or consumer desktop doesn’t really cut it.
You can do all that on a tablet, sure, if you like torturing yourself and wasting time trying to overcome limitations of the interface that’s not suitable for such tasks.
But it’s not about theoretical possibility, but about what people would rather do if they care about ergonomics.
Mandatory reading: https://archive.org/details/DesignOfEverydayThings
Edited 2015-11-11 17:05 UTC
Well, so, I don’t see it that way at all. I have owned quite a few tablets over the years – iPad 2, Nexus 7, Surface Pro 2, another 8″ Windows 8.1 tablet I forget the brans of, and a couple of more obscure ones in the past that we can ignore.
For art – interacting with the screen direcrtly as if it is paper is a real game-changer. It’s really the best way I’ve found to recreate the feeling of working on paper.
For audio recording, the interface is actually way better. Far more like using a traditional recording studio set up. You interact directly with the UI, just like I did in the 90’s with my 4-track.
The iMovie interface was also pleasurable to use, though a couple of operations were a little clunky. But on the whole it was no harder than using a PC.
The document editing – it all depends on how you write documents. I used to format as I went, but a colleague once pointed out to me that is you get the basic text down, formatting is far more trivial, so that is how I now work, and on a tablet that workflow makes writing very easy.
I don’t know. Maybe it’s the same as with keyboard and text based OS vs mouse and graphical UI.Old school can’t accept new school thinking?
For audio recording I agree that tablet interface can be comfortable to use. But not for audio processing which is already more complex use case.
It doesn’t appear old school vs new school to me. Current tablet interfaces are inherently limited, and while they are OK for some tasks, they are not ergonomic for many tasks which can be more easily performed with keyboard and mouse. In practice it usually means that tablets are OK as complimentary devices, but they can’t replace PCs.
Edited 2015-11-13 00:01 UTC
All of your points (with the exception of maybe creating a text document) are only valid at the novice level or as novelty – making youtube videos, fooling around with music, etc. In nearly all cases you yourself make the point a tablet is only good as a scratch pad. As a scratch pad, yes, a tablet can be used that way, but even so it’s least often the scratch pad of choice for people doing any of those things for a living.
This isn’t about old school vs. new school thinking. It’s about workflow. People who are `bedroom content producers` always seem to have a problem comprehending that just because a tool works for them in the most simplistic and basic application, the same is almost always not true for those who need to produce at the professional level.
Tablets aren’t multi-tools that are great at a lot of things, or even good at a lot of things beyond consumption and non-demanding entertainment.
I just bought an iPhone 6s Plus because I like 6″ for a tablet. This lets me use the phone instead of also buying a tablet in conjunction with my MacBook Pro. I don’t need no stinking tablet!
Film at ’11! Before that, here’s Brock with the weather. How it looking out there, Brock?
Well I guess that’s settled.
You can just feel the tension leave the internet now that we Know the PC is dead. Again.
Only way he can back this up is to dogfood it. Develop iOS exclusively on the iPad Pro.
Can’t see it.
The last time you posted anything about the iPad pro it was still warm and sunny outside. I’m guessing that that is a reflection of sorts … Tim needed to whip up some attention.
but if I have to get a PC killer, it would be a Surface Book.
So, have you actually seen it in real life?
I have and although I wanted it to be my ( portable ) gaming PC it really has many shortcomings – it would have been that much better if it was just a laptop.
Not yet, but from the developers event, I kind of liked it very much.
I liked it too but it has all sort of issues in real life. The Verge has a good review:
http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/21/9574381/microsoft-surface-book-l…
Personally my biggest issue is that the screen is not very stable as you tap, it’s not even super stable when you type. The gap is really dumb too.
With the crappy HW and Windowns 10… I think NOT!
So what iDevice offers a comparable GPU/CPU combo?
I am using Windows 10 already.
I bought the latest Razer Blade.
I looks quite nice actually.
No tablet will be a PC killer, at least not for a very very long time. How is anyone going to play StarCraft II, BF4 or Fallout 4 and Star Citizen on a table?
Do the majority of PC owners play that sort of game?
IMHO/Afaik, I think not.
Actually, every PC owner I know that plays games, myself included, do.
Can haz usb port to plug my model-M keyboard and mouse into to run my builds, compilers and editing sessions all day long?
Cheezeburger? Moron.
*Largest “private” company in the world. There are plenty of larger companies, like the NHS.
Mr. Cook,
Steve Jobs was wrong in 2010 when he said ipads are going to kill desktop pcs. You’re wrong about it today, and it comes off as a desperate attempt to generate interest as ipad sales are waning. I expect better propaganda from a company with the kind of financial resources Apple has.
haha, mr ilovebeer – the pc has been “dead” as the primary mainstream computing platform for almost a decade now.
mr. cook is only stating the obvious using the nomenclature of marketing trends. a desktop running windows has been “granny’s computer” for a long time now.
i make things far more complex than documents and posts on my computer. you probably do to. i can’t do all of that on an iPad or a surface. we are increasingly a minority and our numbers as share of profit are dwindling.
guy working outside of tech is more of a paying customer these days than us IT types.
What people don’t seem to understand is that tablets are simply another tool in the toolbox. They’re well-suited in some areas and horribly lacking in others. If your needs are encompassed by what an ipad does well, an ipad (or some other tablet) may be all you need. Mr. Cook was primarily talking about the workplace – he thinks the ipad is going to rule the workplace… Not happening until/if an ipad becomes as powerful and usable. That’s not going to happen because it means you’ll have to connect a monitor and a keyboard at a minimum and it’s no longer just the ipad/tablet by doing so. It gets transformed into a smaller footprint desktop.
Mr. Cook also believes the ipad will be peoples choice device for music and movies…… The hell? I’ve never seen anyone using an ipad to listen to music – cellphones are far smaller and far more convenient for that. And the only time I’ve seen anyone use an ipad to watch a movie is on an airplane, or in a car to entertain a child. I don’t know anyone who would choose an ipad over their phone for music, or an ipad over their tv for movies.
Lastly, he goes on to say how people like using ipad minis to read in bed more than their cellphones. I would say that’s highly debatable as I constantly hear people talking about using their phones in bed before they went to sleep. And if the choice is between an expensive ipad mini or those ancient devices called …books…, every read I know (myself included) opts for the book or magazine over frying their eyes with a tablet before they go to sleep.
Mr. Cook/Apple needs to do something about their slumping ipad sales. I don’t knock them for still trying to convince people the ipad is `the future`, and that’s all his propaganda is trying to do. Compared to an equally capable cellphone, a tablet is bulky and inconvenient. Compared to a real tv/home theater/movie theater, an ipads tiny screen and horrid speakers is unacceptable except when you’re stuck on an airplane, or riding in a car.
Ilovebeer – I generally agree – some points:
Music Listening – I agree the iPad isn’t the most popular player, but most kids don’t have an iPhone and most people don’t use someone else’s iPhone to listen to music. Most kids play stuff from an iPad. Any group type event would rather leave an iPad or iPod to play music rather than someones private phone. Me – I have a new DAP (ponoplayer) that sounds so much better than any other device that I don’t worry about that anymore.
Movies/TV watching – my wife probably watches an iPad 4x as much as fixed TV. Kitchen, dining room, basement, bedroom, bathroom, wherever she might be set up she can put on her shows. Don’t forget fixing things, lessons, other reasons to have a mobile screen like an iPad. I bet Netflix has numbers on which clients watch the most, i’m sure iPads are up on that list. Some iPads don’t do much more than play TV/movies.
Music making – this is changing – if you are into hip-hop, EDM, electro sort of stuff, lots of stuff is being made on iPad’s these days. So many new apps from people like Korg and Propellorhead, new companies, that takes loops and samples and synths and give the user a touch interface to construct beats.
Note that I’m not super crazy about the music making part – i think real instruments should be used over an iPad, but i also have taken part b/c it is fun. Just hurts my ears some.
What’s funny is you just made a stronger case for the ipad than Mr. Cook! Stream tv shows as you work around the house, or watch `fix it` videos while you’re actually trying to fix it. For example, when you’re laying under a car. Want to have fun screwing around with music in some way? A tablet can help you do that. These things actually make a tablet sound useful, convenient, and entertaining. Stuff where a cellphone doesn’t quite cut it, but neither does the overkill of something bigger like a netbook/laptop/desktop. That sales pitch is much stronger than saying the ipad is going to dominate the workplace plus become your primary means of watching movies, which just sounds ridiculous.
If Apple wants to do better at pushing ipads, they’ve got to be honest about what the product is and what it isn’t. They have to come to terms with where it’s a good fit and market the hell out of that instead.
Perhaps he’s stating the obvious that the PC market is pretty much saturated and isn’t a growing market. If this is what he means by “dead” he is correct.
It’s true from a certain point of view.
Apple isn’t the one killing the PC market, though.
Edited 2015-11-11 03:11 UTC
Is there an actual link to back up the claim of the headline: “Apple’s Tim Cook declares the end of the PC”? I didn’t see any such statement by Tim in the linked article.
The headline is a deliberate click bait embellishment. Cook isn’t declaring the desktop computer “dead”. It’s just not a growth market for a billion dollar company oriented towards the media consuming users. (Sorry artists and tech weenies, Apple left you in the dust. You didn’t pay the bills.)
Cook is pointing out the Facebook/Netflix generation doesn’t give much of a damn about desktop tasks (media creation, programming, writing) so their phones, not as much tablets, are their primary interaction and computing interface because Facebook/Netflix/Twitter are input minimal uses. That is, they don’t require full keyboards. Thumbs, touch, and camera are all those people need these days.
Sure, when you actually have to sit down and DO something productive it’s very difficult to get rid of a full sized keyboard, screen, and traditional mouse because alternative input methods still aren’t good enough.
The Year of the Linux Desktop, the Death of the Desktop, the Death of Microsoft Windows, the Paperless Society, and Congress Doing Something Useful all have one thing in common: they’re all currently myths that the press or some company loves to trot out to sell advertising or some new often useless product.
The right tool for the job. Desktops aren’t going away because they are the right tool to do traditional business computing and creation tasks. Consumers never drove the desktop PC market anyway, businesses do.
You only need to visit Alabama to see why he’s obviously being stupid with this declaration. You’re geniuses from different parts of the world vary by region. Alabama obviously isn’t the center of modern culture.
I’ve been using a Dell Venue for a couple months now and don’t see it anywhere near as capable as a desktop. And it runs Windows 8.1 which isn’t even comparable to Apples tablet toy OS.
Ok, I’ll bite.
What is so special about Alabama?
Please enlighten those of us who are not in that region.
Generally the schools rank in the bottom five, except when their dept of ed manipulates test scores to get up to a whopping 30th place. With. Heavy. Manipulation.
And we all know just how incredibly awesome an indicator standardized education truly is… You’re going to have to do better than that. Try not insulting people first, perhaps?
I’d take a Surface over one of these things, one million times, hands down.
And if even Surface can’t do as well as it’s predicted to do / already doing, then the iPad Pro can only do worse… (unless they manage to convince more squadrons of vapourware-making hipstamanagers to buy them!) 😀 😀 😀
The PC isn’t going anywhere.
Basically he is saying, he doesn’t work on a computer. Maybe he doesn’t need to. Replying emails works. Creating presentation is Ok too. Drafting speech works. But debugging code, or complex design work, or anything else “complex” doesn’t work with tablet. Even laptop doesn’t work often. This is why people buy big monitors or making multi-mon setups or use full keyboards.
Edited 2015-11-12 00:12 UTC
Unless Apple releases an iPad Pro-like device for $300-$400, PCs will continue to exist.
So this is his version of “This is the year of the linux desktop”?
I’ll be the first to admit that since using a smartphone I greatly decreased the use of my PC, but I almost never use a tablet. I had a Transformer in the past and currently have an iPad basically for iOS exclusive games.