IOS for mobile

I love Windows and member of the insiders program. When comes to desktop computing I can imagine not using Windows. However, I find the iPad to be a better mobile solution these days. The iPad is now my main computer that I take with me. I carry a Surface 3 around, but seldom take it out of the bag. The iPad with Microsoft foldable keyboard has proven to be good enough for me. With full photoshop coming to the iPad, do you think the days of PC are numbered? All the apps I love to use are on the iPad and very few are on the PC. If Microsoft gives a full version of Office to the iPad then I don’t see much a future for laptop with Intel and one with ARM would still lack the apps. This app problem is all because Microsoft lost the mobile wars and computer in the pocket dominates first use. Now, HoloLens phone main give them a chance but the odds are against Microsoft pulling that off. They could make it, but making it compelling and what the consumer market will adopt is another matter. It’s not been Microsoft thing. It would need to be a phone and PC at the same time with app support. Can they made it cool enough for app developers will want to jump and consumer will want to use. If they make it just for business then it is another price scanner. Nice tech, useful tech but not for average Joe.

Conversation 9 comments

  • xperiencewindows

    24 January, 2019 - 11:32 am

    <p>The days of the PC aren't numbered for most people. There's nothing like using a computer with a big LCD monitor, full keyboard, and regular wired mouse.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

    • Greg Green

      28 January, 2019 - 8:01 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#399249">In reply to xperiencewindows:</a></em></blockquote><p>Actually they are and have been numbered for most people. According to the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(59, 59, 59);">National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is another government agency no one heard of, US users of computing devices from 2010 to 2018 show a steep decline and minority usage of desktops.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(59, 59, 59);">64% use smartphones,</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(59, 59, 59);">46% use laptops,</span></p><p>34% use smart tv/stream box</p><p>32% use tablet,</p><p>30% use desktop, </p><p>8% use wearable.</p><p><br></p><p>Laptop usage has leveled off for 4 years, desktop usage declined from 45% in 2012, all others are rising. So desktop was never above ‘most’ in the last 6 years and is now less than a third. Desktop has consistently declined by 4 points every two years. If you eliminate employees I suspect you could cut the number in half, or more.</p>

  • dcdevito

    25 January, 2019 - 9:13 pm

    <p>Not a chance. I need and prefer to use a real computer</p>

  • Bob Shutts

    26 January, 2019 - 8:40 am

    <p>I need a full size machine with a comfortable keyboard for work. Prefer a USB-attached printer. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> AirPrint from the iPad is problematic for me.</span> I use my iPad for browsing and shooting out a quick email. </p>

  • minke

    27 January, 2019 - 9:56 am

    <p>I need a real keyboard for most stuff I do on a computer. IMHO tablets are great for media consumption, but not much else. I am more of a creator than a consumer, so prefer to have a really nice keyboard that is attached. Really liking the Pixelbook that I am using for typing this, and you can flip it around and have a better "tablet" than most tablets provide, but the keyboard is right there when I need it.</p>

  • Greg Green

    28 January, 2019 - 8:04 am

    <p>If I’m going on a short vacation I take only the iPad (and the ever present smartphone). If it’s a week or more I bring the laptop, but still use mostly iPad. If it’s work related the iPad almost never gets used.</p>

  • jchampeau

    Premium Member
    28 January, 2019 - 8:38 am

    <p>When you say the iPad is a "better mobile solution," I think what you were implying is that the iPad is the best tool for <em>your</em> specific use cases. For for anyone who types a lot, requires Windows or macOS for line-of-business software, or who finds that using a mouse makes them more productive, their use cases are different from yours. While iPad may satisfy your needs, it will never fulfill the needs of most people who need to be able to do every aspect of their jobs while on the road.</p><p><br></p><p>Just this weekend I drove around 400 miles to another city to visit some friends. I took my iPad and my Windows 10 laptop. I set aside a couple hours one morning to knock out a few work tasks. I used QuickBooks Desktop, some RF system design software, and worked on a proposal for a prospective client. The first two I could not have done on an iPad, and the last time I worked on a Word document with lots of design elements on an iPad, it was a complete train wreck. In fact, when I opened up that Word document later on a PC, Word for iPad had screwed it up to the point where I reverted to an older version and made the changes a second time on the PC. It's just the wrong tool for the job if the job means being <em>truly</em> productive (in other words, not retrained or limited in some way) with the same tools you use on a desktop. I never took my iPad out of the bag this weekend.</p>

    • provision l-3

      28 January, 2019 - 12:18 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#400057">In reply to jchampeau:</a></em></blockquote><p>Aren't you making the same mistake that the original poster is? You are defining mobile productivity as what you do and assuming more people do work like yourself rather than something different. </p><p><br></p><p>I don't know if tablets (iOS base or otherwise) will every overtake the more traditional laptop for productivity or not but they certainly have chipped away at it. I travel a bit for work and I'm not sure if a tablet would allow me to do everything I need to do or not but it has to be pretty close. The issue in my situation is more likely me than the tablet. I have a hard time making the mental shift to using one full time. My kid on the other hand has grown up using a tablet before using a more traditional computer and while he has access to both an iPad and laptop for school his go to for homework is the iPad. The only thing he really uses a computer for is gaming, productivity is all on the iPad. So, I wonder how much of this type of shift is generational vs. technological. </p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

  • cadrethree

    28 January, 2019 - 1:39 pm

    <p>Are the PC's days numbered? This really is the canary in the coal mine year for Microsoft and Windows 7 EOL. Everything Microsoft is living on now is something Gates or Ballmer started. What new thing or market has Nadella done? If people think the Apple CEO is just a game clock manager, what does that make Nadella? The next 18 months will indicate how many people the Windows ecosystem will lose and which ecosystem will gain the most. Apple or Google. I mean look at Intel vs Qualcomm vs ARM, for cue's. I thought Intel was done when they sold off their Xscale division, but they'll hang on for a long time like some zombie company. ARM and mobile chips market will continue to scale up and Intel will continue to scale down. Or maybe IBM vs Microsoft is a better example. IBM is still around, but nobody knows what they make. A total non-factor in the computer industry. It's doubtful the keyboard and mouse will ever go away, though. That combination is the sweet spot for productivity. If a iPad is connected to a keyboard and mouse doesn't that classify it as a PC? A 2n1 one iPad or Android would be nice with a detachable screen.</p><p><br></p><p>A Google Glass desktop computer would be amazing and is the direction we are heading, IMHO. A clear saftey glass form factor with full computer and next generation networking capabilities, who wouldn't want that? Always on me, without worrying about breaking my phone's screen. Netflik on a floating giant screen while lounging about the house. Seeing and checking mail with my voice while on the toilet? Traffic and weather updates while driving to work without looking down at my phone? Going to work and putting on my work PC glasses and connecting to my keyboard, and mouse. Heck with built in sensor it could recognize my coworker and pull up new emails and appointments from them when I'm talking to them. Endless possibilities. </p>

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