The core of the digital age handover: personal cloud to replace the PC

Lead: The famous American magazine Forbes Online published an article on Monday said that with the rapid development of mobile devices and cloud computing services, personal cloud is likely to gradually replace the PC in the next few years the status of a few years to become the digital age Leading the core.

Full-text translation is as follows:

For the PC, the last few months are very tough.

Just last week Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that the PC is "no longer the core of the digital world." He also looked forward to the future and said the iPad will be a typical example of the post-PC revolution as users are beginning to look for devices that are "more portable, personal and easy to use than PCs."

On Monday, Gartner, a U.S. market research company, also expressed its opinion on the post-PC era and believes that "personal cloud" will replace PC in 2014 and will become the core of our digital life. The so-called "personal cloud" refers to a set of online services that can "seamlessly store, synchronize, retrieve and share data over the Internet with smartphones, tablets, TVs and PCs."

According to Gartner analyst Steve Kleynhans, the emerging cloud computing service will be the link between various devices, allowing users to choose different devices at different moments in their daily lives.

Although cloud computing services are not new and online backup services have been around for years, Gartner believes that the proliferation of Internet-enabled mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, increased consumer satisfaction with technology, and the increased use of Netflix, Google Apps, Amazon Music, Microsoft The launch of cloud computing services such as SkyDrive and Apple iCloud are all driving demand in the industry.

Gartner predicts that by 2015, consumers worldwide spend about $ 2.8 trillion on consumer-grade mobile devices and their companion services and content.

"Many people refer to this era as the post-PC era, but that's not to say the PC era is over, but rather that some emerging devices liberate people from traditional computing and improve their work in all aspects "Says Kleinhans." With multiple devices, PCs will still be one of many options, but no single device will be at the core, and the personal cloud will take on that responsibility. "

A week ago, Gartner just released PC market expectations for 2012 and think PC sales will remain sluggish this year. Global PC shipments this year are estimated to be only 368 million units due to consumers being attracted by mobile devices such as tablet PCs and smartphones, In 2011 an increase of 4.4%. Gartner said that thin and light as the main selling point ultrabook (ultrabook) and Microsoft's new generation of Windows 8 operating system, this year can rekindle consumer enthusiasm for the PC market, remains to be further observed.

At the same time, March 7 has just released the third generation of iPad tablet Apple is still triumphing. The company led the way in mobile computing with the launch of the iPhone and iPad. Since its launch in 2010, iPad sales have surpassed 55 million units. This momentum has not shown any sign of abating, and analysts expect this year's iPad sales may reach this figure.

Apple once said that the new iPad demand "exceeded expectations." The product will be officially listed on the US market on March 16. Be Reitzes, a Barclays Capital analyst, said in a Monday research note that the iPad's first pre-sales orders were sold out on March 9 and that consumers placing orders last weekend had to wait until March 19 Day or later to receive the device. Rees wrote: "Apple's first weekend pre-sale volume may reach millions."

"In many ways, iPads are reshaping the world of portable computing," Cook said at a conference last week. "When you talk about the PC world, we're talking about a PC that no longer takes center stage in the digital world It's just a device, and in the world we're talking about, your new device, your most-used device, will be more portable, more personal, and much easier to use than any other PC in the past. "