Thirty-three years after he helped to usher in the personal-computer age, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs is still making waves. On his watch, the company has transformed digital music with the iPod and iTunes and shaken up the mobile-phone industry with its iPhone. In April, Mr. Jobs introduced the iPad, a tablet computer that he says could kick off the next computer revolution.
...
MR. MOSSBERG: Is the tablet going to eventually replace the laptop?

MR. JOBS: When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks, because that's what you needed on the farm. But as vehicles started to be used in the urban centers, cars got more popular. Innovations like automatic transmission and power steering and things that you didn't care about in a truck as much started to become paramount in cars.

PCs are going to be like trucks. They're still going to be around, they're still going to have a lot of value, but they're going to be used by one out of X people.

I think that we're embarked on that. Is [the next step] the iPad? Who knows? Will it happen next year or five years from now or seven years from now? Who knows? But I think we're headed in that direction.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704764404575286192766121172.html


The center of financial gravity in the computing world—the Center of Money—has shifted. No longer directed at the PC, the money pump now gushes full blast at the smartphones market. One of my colleagues, Bob Ackerman, calls smartphones the very personal computers. Measured by size and potential, they’re both smaller and bigger than today’s PCs.
...
http://www.mondaynote.com/2010/05/02/very-personal-computing/


사용기 게시판에 소개된 D8 conference가 정리된 기사가 있어 퍼 옵니다.  기존 PC가 트럭과 같이 될 것이란 예측이 흥미롭군요.  앞으로 모바일 하드웨어 성능이나 전력 기술이 더 발달하고 클라우드 컴퓨팅이 보편화된다면 간단한 개인 용도로서는 pc를 대체할 수 있지 않을까 하는 생각이 듭니다.  저의 경우만 봐도 손 안에서 간단한 웹서핑이나 메일 확인은 해결이 되니 컴퓨터를 통한 시간이 줄어든 것 같고요.

이와 같은 현상을 HP와 애플의 분기별 실적으로 알 수 있는데요.  두번째 링크의 S자 커브가 지금의 상황을 잘 나타내 주고 있다고 봅니다.

한편으로는 20여년 전에 최초의 개인용 컵퓨터를 만든 사람이 지금도 역사를 쓰고 있는 것을 보니 참 앞으로가 기대되네요.