This all feels eerily familiar. Personal alarm bells starting ringing when I read Steve Jobs overheard saying the iPad "will be the most important thing I've ever done."
I remember when the Macintosh was the fresh new thing at Apple. At that time, the entire company was built on the back of the Apple //. The Macintosh was just getting off the ground and accounted for only a small part of the total revenue. Even so, it was clear the Mac was the future.
The iPhone and iPad represent huge chunks of Apple's revenue and this did not exist three years ago. In fact, they pretty much represent all of Apple's growth in that time. Apple knows mobile computing is the way forward. Do you know it too?
Here are some more clues. The Apple Design Awards? Mobile only. The WWDC? A curiously mobile-centric focus. Sensing a trend here?
The nature of computing is changing. It used to be we used computers to crunch numbers and make spreadsheets. This is Microsoft's turf. Now we use computers to do other things like manage photos, make movies, music, and communicate. Even before the advent of mobile computing, Apple understood this, and this is where iLife came from.
Facebook is an application that helps manage personal relationships. That sounds incredibly stupid. Why would you use a computer to help you deal with people? Except… it works. This is the reality of how normal people use computers today, and this kind of stuff is what iPhones and iPads are all about.
MacOS and Windows are in their twilight.
