The Post PC Era

IBM early PC
Image: mwichary, Flickr



This summer (12 August 2011) marks the 30^th anniversary of the IBM home computer.  Although not the first personal computer on the market (Apple and Radio Shack were already there) IBM production marks the start of a big boom in computer use in the home and is therefore a significant point in computing history. As we know the last thirty years have seen a rapid evolution in computing capability and scale both for business and home – smaller components but more power and impact.
Technology has certainly moved on in new and exciting ways, smart phones for example have made good use of micro technology to provide us with highly personalised devices that we tend to think of as essential to life. (How many of you run your life from your mobile?) Although we have quickly become accustomed to the multi-functionality of the smart phone, such devices have only been with us a surprisingly short while. The first iphone for example was not launched until January 2007, there are now expectations that version 5 will be launched in the Autumn, showing how fast this type of technology is developing. Building on the popularity of the iphone Apple’s innovative development of the ipad has created a new must-have breed of mobile technology revolutionising both the market and our idea of how we can use computing power quite radically.
You may have seen the headline the “PC is dead” it seems to have become a popular and suitably dramatic headline in the media. Last week it appeared with rather a buzz following Mark Dean’s (IBM's Chief Technology Officer Middle East and Africa) blog post  prompted by IBM’s significant 30 year anniversary. Prior to that it was splashed across the media following Steve Job’s launch of the iPad 2. Neither of these significant voices actually used those headline words but they did both refer to the “Post PC Era”. While it may be fair to say that this implies the beginning of the end for the PC as we know it this does not mean the PC is dead just yet. In practical terms (cost and how we currently work) the PC still has much to offer but both Dean and Jobs wanted to convey their professional vision for the future of computing technology in convergence with mobile devices. They see an increasingly significant change in the way we use technology in the not too distant future, with a move away from permanent fixed services and hardware to the convenience and flexibility of un-tethered, mobile devices that make use of “the cloud” to provide everything essential for an individual’s personalised connectivity for life, work, leisure and play.

smart mobile devices
image: exacq, Flickr

Not surprisingly the potential of smart mobile technology is generating considerable interest in educational circles. Educators are investigating the potential of new mobile technologies in various projects. Here at the RSC WM we have already run one successful mobile technology project with local learning providers and produced an insightful report entitled "The Learning Journey Made Mobile", worth reading if you are interested in how you might make use of mobile devices for teaching and learning yourself or an evaluation of mobile devices from an educational perspective. As well as various tablet devices (Samsung Galaxy, Android and Apple) the project kit included ipods, pocket projectors, the mimio portable white board, digital camera and the Kindle e-book reader.