Is the iPad a PC?
Ironically, I was just thinking about this idea the other day. Does the iPad fall into the PC category? And not the PC category we are so often want to think of which is an IBM clone running DOS or Windows, but a personal computer that has a microprocessor architecture, an operating system, ram, storage and output?
In a real and literal sense, the iPad is every bit a PC. It performs calculations, it has a processor, graphics output, it accepts input, it most certainly can create content such as documents, music, picture, emails, etc. And it plays content as well. It plays a slew of games, as mentioned in the article as many, if not more than what a Netbook can run. I can certainly copy things to a from it. It has all the characteristics of a personal computer.
I did see a few comments saying it wasn’t a PC because it needed another machine to work, iTunes on a Mac or PC. That isn’t entirely correct. It needs a PC to activate, which quite frankly is no different than Windows needing to be activated. So you’re basically authorizing/registering the machine as yours to make sure it’s legal and legitimate. They both sound about the same to me.
The iOS is just as much an operation system as everything else. It handles storage functions, file creation, displays to a screen, accepts input from devices installs software, removes software and files, etc. It seems to do all the standard OS type stuff.
To me, the iPad is a PC just like a Netbook, a Mac, a laptop or my desktop machine. And by extension that means my iPod Touch is a personal computer since it has all those same functions. And by extension again, the iPhone is a PC. It doesn’t really mean anything except that Apple is shipping a huge amount of PCs every month.
A PC isn’t a big box with hard drives and monitor sitting on the floor near your desk. And it’s not just something running a Microsoft OS. The iPad is a computer pure and simple. I think it’s just amusing that Apple may be a much bigger PC manufacturer than anyone wants to admit.
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