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Mar 27, 08 - 04:34 pm Comment from: IEEE1394®

Fscking A right!

iPhone bitch!

The laptop is dead, hail the iPhone

Mar 27, 08 - 04:39 pm Comment from: Mac-nugget

I don't agree. Accurate work requires big input devices. If what this guy states were true, then why do I and so many of us want a 30" Cinema Display. I could not imagine working on a 3D project on an iPhone. At least, for my kind of work, a desktop is the only way to go.

Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone, but this hyperbola of it's impact simply seems unrealistic.

Mar 27, 08 - 04:40 pm Comment from: TowerTone

"The laptop is dead"

they have a pill for that...

Completely wrong. The iPhone is fantastic, but it is a "post-PC" device. It's complimentary to the computer, not a replacement for it.

Mar 27, 08 - 04:47 pm Comment from: ericdano

But...but.....that is not what Dvorak said.....

Mar 27, 08 - 04:47 pm Comment from: Jay-Z

I agree with Mac-nugget... As much as I love my iPhone, I couldn't work on it. Even my 15" PowerBook screen is tiny at times. I do really look forward to seeing if/how this transforms the desktop/laptop experience, though.

Mar 27, 08 - 04:53 pm Comment from: cuz i'm the taxman

For what most people do, the iPhone has it covered. No, you aren't going to write a novel on it, but it does a surprising amount of actual work. Not going to stop humping my Macbook around, but in a few years I am hoping my Macbook has a touch screen and weighs a ton less than it does now.

Mar 27, 08 - 05:01 pm Comment from: MacLovin

I want an iPhone with a 13" screen. The Mac Tablet. I could definitly use one. I'm a student, and I don't want to lug around my PowerBook all the time. I want a light, touch screen laptop, that I can have my bluetooth keyboard and mouse plug into. But for taking notes, (which would be more organized on a computer) I want a touch screen with a pen. (yes, a stylus) But I can't bring myself to buy a PC tablet... Can't stand winblows...

Vapid overhype.

iPhone's terrific, but no more (and no less) than another tool that fits where you need it.

Room for all, from multi-screen (me), through 30" and laptop (me again) down to iPhone & Co.

Mar 27, 08 - 05:02 pm Comment from: MacLovin

wait, if its bluetooth, it wouldn't really plug in, would it...?

Mar 27, 08 - 05:03 pm Comment from: January 24, 1984

I've got an iPhone, and MacBook, but for HD video editing, I use a MacPro with two 30" Cinemas.

The iPhone is a fine viewer of video, but no place for the 10+ TB of data I've got.

A lot of us use our computers for work, Lance! I guess your average teenager probably doesn't have 10 TB of action going though.Maybe we'll use something like an iPhone as an inupt device for our 30 inchers?

Mar 27, 08 - 05:19 pm Comment from: Cubert

There will always be a place for a desktop Mac. Can you imagine doing high resolution graphics or video editing on a laptop? Maybe if you connect another monitor or two to it.

Mar 27, 08 - 05:20 pm Comment from: ken1w

Even if touch screen computers get bigger, people who work on computers are not going to work all day with their arms held out in front of them, gesturing on the screen with their fingers.

Touch screen computers will one day easily replace some computers with a keyboard and mouse/trackpad for people who just need to see information on the screen and do only basic data input/manipulation. But to say that the iPhones "descendants" will replace all desktops and laptops is clearly ridiculous.

Mar 27, 08 - 05:22 pm Comment from: Big Al

The iPhone is way better than a PC.

It comes nowhere near a Mac but it kicks PC ass.

Mar 27, 08 - 05:23 pm Comment from: oh no my shorts

@ Mac-nugget

"why do I and so many of us want a 30" Cinema Display."

Think bigger, think future. 3-D virtual reality screens, a la Johnny Mnemonic. Pop on your VR headset, put on your data gloves, and power up your computer... your iPhone.

Mar 27, 08 - 05:24 pm Comment from: oh no my shorts

They've already got the accelerometer in the iPhone, so they know how to handle 3-D orientation. Build the same system into data gloves and you're halfway there.

Mar 27, 08 - 05:25 pm Comment from: ron

You 20th century people are so--?--?--20th century. The iPhone of the 'not too distant' future may have an HD projection lens etc.

Open your minds a little.

Mar 27, 08 - 05:26 pm Comment from: iWill

@ MacDailyNews Webmaster:

"test mobile MDN via iPhone"

I see your post on Regular MDN, I don't see your post on Regular MDN via iPhone, and what's more, I can't see iPhone version of MDN.

What am I missing here?

thx.

Mar 27, 08 - 05:29 pm Comment from: MaLvado

Our kid's kids will laugh we used mice and keyboards

Voice commands come next and then thought commands...

Mar 27, 08 - 05:39 pm Comment from: Spark

@oh no my shorts
That was my first thought when reading Mac-nugget and similar posts above. The author is projecting event 10-20 years from now. The concept of pocket computers is not new, but the iPhone has indeed made the concept a reality. Sure it's limited now, but technology presses on as your ideas suggest. We already have eyepieces you can wear to mimic screens bigger than 30". Imagine wearing a ring or more on your fingers that provide spatial feedback to the iPhone in your pocket for control and manipulation of visual feed back on holographic object seen via the eyepieces. All it takes now is continued advances in processor power/size, batteries, and miniaturization. All foreseeable.

Mar 27, 08 - 05:43 pm Comment from: jocknerd

This guy couldn't be more wrong. The iPhone isn't replacing laptops. Its opening up an new segment. The portable Internet device. I'm still not convinced the iPhone will remain a leader in this field however. I believe Google's Asteroid will be a serious contender.

I'm using a Palm Centro right now. The web browsing sucks. Why? The screen. Its too small. When will these hardware companies realize that in order to have a good web experience, you need a bigger screen? In fact, if the Centro had a screen that was the same size as the iPhone, I'd say I had a better device. Its got 3G. I can use it as a data modem for my MacBook Pro. It does Instant Messaging. The email client sucks, but I use GMail and Google has done a very good job of writing mobile web pages.

haven't really tried one yet. Can anyonee tell me what size a monitor they drive?

Mar 27, 08 - 05:58 pm Comment from: MacLovin

Think Mac Tablet people, Mac Tablet...

I also think the iPhone may become a desktop/notebook replacement. I think there are two questions that have to be asked. 1) Can the iPhone do 80% of what people actually do on a computer; 2) for 80% of the people. Ask yourself, what is it that you mostly do on your computer? The answer for most is e-mail, web browsing, word processing, etc. People also have specific applications that they need. Can the iPhone with the new SDK meet most of people's needs? We won't know for sure until it happens, but it appears so.

People will dismiss the iPhone as a desktop replacement by pointing to specific functions that it can never perform. They don't get it. The iPhone does not need to perform every function - it needs to perform the CORE functions. It appears to me that an iPHone could replace almost everything I'm now doing on my laptop. Why would I buy a laptop if I can carry my computer in my phone?

Mar 27, 08 - 06:07 pm Comment from: Grifterus

The iPhone is the future for the end user.

Us developers, though, will be tied to the good ol' keyboard for a while....... unless the develop something like the iPhone for developer

Nevertheless, I agree it's the most important device for the 21st century so far.

The funny thing is, in 10 year or so, it will look like an antique (just the same way we look at a first generation iPod today)

I do believe that the laptop will one day kill the desktop, and I do foresee handheld devices becoming the new laptop.

But in twenty to thirty years, people will even laugh at handheld devices. I foresee the internet becoming an even bigger part of our daily lives and voice/thought controlled computing devices the size of wristwatches coming to the consumer market.

Hey, you guys let me know when the iPhone can run Logic 8 with a dozen plug-ins on a 50 track project. Until then, I'll be on my Mac Book Pro...

Possible, but I don't wat to put all that crap on just to do some work. Not exactly practical . . .

Ummm using dreamweaver and photoshop on an iphone seems a bit torturous even if you had two of them hooked up together. I'm happy with my iphone but I still need a big screen.

@Jay said: "...let me know when the iPhone can run Logic 8 with a dozen plug-ins on a 50 track project..."

@Jeffgtr said: "...using dreamweaver and photoshop on an iphone seems a bit torturous..."

You're missing the point. A handheld computer will never be good for EVERYTHING. Large monitors and massive processing power will always be necessary for many functions. But a handheld computer that can do MOST things well will be good enough for most of the people most of the time.

Mar 27, 08 - 06:54 pm Comment from: Basil Ganglia

Here's my vision. Within a few years the iPhone has 100-200+ Gb solid state storage and an ultrathin, ultralow power, high performance chip similar to today's desktop/laptop CPUs in performance but with MUCH lower power consumption. This will make it a very powerful mobile platform that will do almost anything we need to do on the go, especially with tens of thousands of programs available and none of the SDK restrictions that limit the iPhone at the moment. At home and work you will have a fairly inexpensive 40-50" screen that will double as a TV screen, if you wish, and you will have a dock with a power adaptor that your iPhone will plug into and a wireless keyboard. In these locations the iPhone will be a mobile hard drive and CPU that will communicate wirelessly with your screen and keyboard and LAN server and iTV. Thus you will have your full keyboard and big screen and network storage at home and work (dual setups) and high quality computing in between; in other words the best of all worlds. The current iPhone isn't sufficiently powered and has insufficient battery life for this scenario but that won't be the case for long. It will replace the desktop and laptop for most people but most of us will still need large scale display devices for serious writing or graphics work or entertainment, and we will need standard keyboards (at least until high quality voice recognition becomes a reality, which will take much longer). A minority will need something better than the iPhone for taking notes on the go (e.g., students and reporters) They will need a tablet, perhaps one the iPhone can plug into to provide the storage and CPU.

My girlfriend sits on my laptop, naked and gets drilled. You think that's history buddy?

Mar 27, 08 - 07:11 pm Comment from: s

ENIAC to Univac
Univac to IBM360
IBM360 to DEC VAX11
VAX11 to IBM PC
IBM PC to laptop
laptop to iPhone/iTouch
iPhone/iTouch to iWatch
iWatch to ???

As someone said, someday our grand kids will be laughing at a big computer called iPhone. As for people who need a big screen, I'm sure someone will come out with a wireless monitor, eye glass mounted monitor with accelerometer or HD projector built into iPhone sized computer.

Mar 27, 08 - 07:14 pm Comment from: Lilochris

I'M surprised Apple has not yet come out with a stand for the iPhone that holds it Horizontally ( Landscape ) and the plug in a battery powered foldable keyboard or a bluetooth version. And an exclusive pointing device ( Mouse ) for the iPhone that also works with bluetooth.

Or if bluetooth connectivity would be an issues, the minature keyboard and mouse can plug into the base that holds the iPhone in landscape. That base can also power, sync, and even extract video from the iPhone to an LCD & it would be like a desktop.

If this happens, then indeed the iPhone would be the Desktop/Notebook killer. Apple can do it.

Mar 27, 08 - 07:21 pm Comment from: iDon't

Humans will no longer exist. Computers and their slave machines will run the world until the next climate change.

If the past has shown us anything, what we think the future will be is generally not what it becomes. The main reason-- we stay human with all our foibles and tendencies to dream, exaggerate, and lust. What we want and what we get are two very different things.

I can't wait! G5 Powerbooks Tuesday!

Oh, and: Suck it. MAC dorks!

Mar 27, 08 - 07:43 pm Comment from: Spark

Hey you guys calling the author an idiot because you run such sophisticated and powerful applications should try reading the full article first.
Quote:
"Obviously, some people will always want the raw horsepower of a desktop PC. Photo editors, videographers, musicians, and those working on extremely rich, long, and complex documents will, at the very least, need the power of a mainstream desktop."

I'm not sure I buy it. Yes, things have gotten smaller to a point, but smaller isn't always better. Also, if you look at how things are today, smaller computers/laptops usually come at a disadvantage; they are more expensive, have less features and performance, and so on. Sure, 20 years from now I might be able to get an iPhone-sized device with the power of the fastest Mac Pro available today. But what will I be able to do with a Mac Pro sized device? There are some things, such as gaming, 3D work, and so on, that can use any speed you can throw at it and more; for some tasks, you can never have too much power. It seems unlikely that everyone would be willing to sacrifice power for size, especially since not everyone needs their whole computer with them all the time (what is the point in size except portability).

I hate to say it, but I actually agree with Dvorak on this one. Sure, the general trend is for devices as a whole to get smaller, and no doubt they will, but there's a limit. The iMac of today is not THAT much smaller/lighter than the iMac of 10 years ago. The Mac Pro of today is probably actually bigger and heavier than a lot of PowerMacs of 10 years ago. Handhelds aside, laptops have probably changed the most in the past 10 years, and even then, to get something radically smaller/lighter like ultra-portables such as the MacBook Air you still have to sacrifice in terms of features, speed, price, and so on.

Not everyone has the same needs today. Not everyone is served best by the same form factor and feature set today. I see no reason to think that this will change; that suddenly, everyone will have identical needs and thus choose identical form factors, or that any one form factor will emerge that will be so multi-use and dominant that it will take over.

This guy is bang on. What you are going to see is a handheld device, like the iPod that interfaces with larger devices, like 50" HD tvs, tablet screens and perhaps wireless keyboards. When will we see this start to emerge? I'd say when you start seeing hundreds of GB of storage in the iPhone, and processors several fold faster to boot. How far off is that? Well, assuming the iPhone is easily capable of 32GB like the touch now, and intel is launching much faster mobile chips soon , we're not that far off, are we? I mean the iPhone currently has the computing power and more storage than the consumer PC of 8 or 10 years ago, and is how much smaller, while the precursor to the consumer PC of 10 years ago was the size of a room. So in 10 or 15 years will our consumer PC be the size of a credit card?

Mar 27, 08 - 08:23 pm Comment from: Roberto

"Keyboard?!?!? How quaint..!"

Mar 27, 08 - 08:24 pm Comment from: silverhawk

Come on folks, Micro$oft recently invented the "Big Ass Table" computer. What are they supposed to do with that investment in the future?

Big Ass Table Dance, anyone?

Mar 27, 08 - 09:51 pm Comment from: Connor MacBook

I've always thought a fully-fledged desktop PC was overkill for most people's needs. The iPhone, and any other web-centric tablets that Apple might bring out, will be enough for most people.

along these lines, Apple needs to make it possible to activate and use the iPhone without the need for a computer/itunes.

I, personally, am waiting for the Time Slider iPhone Update...I getting bored sitting here waiting in 2008 for 3G.

Mac-nugget

Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone, but this hyperbola of it's impact simply seems unrealistic.

You are wrong. Think about it. Exactly how many people are ever going to design a 3D ANYTHING? For every graphics artist there are a million everyday people who use the web purely for information retrieval and communication. And now that you can do that from the palm of your hand, a portable device will be THE information tool in millions of people's lives, just as people are ditching hardlines for cell phones.

We all filter information thru our own experience, and too often make the mistake of assuming our needs match the needs of "most others". They don't, especially for power users who write code or design interfaces or because of their work need no less than 50 apps on their company laptops. (Yes, that's me). For me to proclaim that a handheld device such as the iPhone will have a limited impact because it doesn't have a USB for talking to Panasonic phones switches puts me squarely in the camp of brain dead PC Microweenies, utterly oblivious to the impact Apple has had and will continue to have far into the future.

Make no mistake, the iPhone has changed everything, even more than the original Mac. It's impact can't be overstated.

Mar 28, 08 - 02:33 am Comment from: justme2

Rather than being a desktop/laptop replacement, I see the iPhone more as a desktop/laptop supplement.

I can lay in bed and check some of my favorite Web sites (though I still can't get Flash video on any of them which sucks) or watch YouTube videos using my Apple Extreme network. If I'm stuck at the airport with a flight delay, instead of pulling out my laptop I can send an email to my traveling companion telling him that I'm going to be late getting into the destination. If I'm on the road and need to look up a bus schedule, I can use the EDGE network to access transit information.

But for major gaming or hard-core work (such as financials, taxes, and my writing), I'm still going to use either my iMac or my MacBook. If there was an external keyboard accessory, similar to what I used to have with my old Palm systems, I could at least see using the iPhone for notetaking at the library or other resources, but I'd still go for a "real computer" for the heavy lifting.

@Mac-nugget

Its because there is a rallying cry from the souls of all computers users out there. They want and need to have a computing device that is absolutely portable and yet have the power of a desktop. No. Power BEYOND a desktop in terms of usefulness. And I'm not talking about a laptop.
The iphone is just a FIRST step in that direction. It will take years unfortunately until the dream is fully realized though.
I think the ultimate solution will be based on holography imo.