Last week, I noted that some say Apple had their first post-PC quarter – and that this isn't suprising. In fact, ilke the "CorpTechPocalypse", the slow dying of IT departments, this is a completely predictable trend. In fact, I think they're the same thing.
Really, the dying of the average IT department is pretty much the same reason that companies are aiming for a post-PC market.
(Now I agree with our own Scott that it's not a post-PC world in that the world will forget PC's. I view what's coming as a world where the PC's role shrinks considerably. But I call it Post-PC as the other term I heard, "PC Plus," doesn't cut it for me)
So what are these similarities?
- People want mobility. Tablets, phones, notebooks, laptops provide that – PC's don't. So yeah, you may want a godawful power box for your work – but most people don't.
- Support is shifting towards, well, actual support. Companies are automating and outsourcing and working on efficiency because people are used to technology that works (mobile devices) and damn well want it. There's a feedback loop here between movie devices (above) and this kind of support that skews people towards non-PCs (I always found that laptop support was much better than PC for many companies) and diverse devices.
- People only need so much power, and a giant testosterone -fueled PC isn't on most people's lists. Miniaturization, efficiency, and product-orienteation mean people get what they need and more from Non-PCs. Thats more of a mobile base, less of an install base – and less traditional IT/PC.
- People can seek out a proper device combination. You can have a powerhouse PC for graphics and a tablet for carrying, a game device and a laptop, or what have you. This isn't a standard-install world, or a world that needs PC's – it needs appropriate combinations.
- Options. People also have options of what tech they use, and that only amplifies the trends above – they'll go for slick, appropriate, mobile, and well supported.
- Not even needing it. How much these days is prepackaged, web-enabled, outsourced, etc.? How much of Corporate IT doesn't need to exist – and how much is in the consumer's hands that they just don't need a PC?
Old-school corporate IT is dying. So is the PC market as we knew it, and the two are part of a larger, more subtle trend; we're moving to a mobile, appropriate, productized IT world.
So, are you moving with the times?