The Epicenter of the Post-PC World

In one week, we saw the world’s biggest internet company gobble up a time-honored hardware company and the world’s biggest hardware company shed its hardware business. A flurry of questions abound, but in my opinion these two shockwaves can be traced to one epicenter: the dominance of Apple.

With Google’s acquisition of Motorola, it acknowledged Apple’s approach of top-down control of the consumer experience. Useable software is not enough, open-source has only resulted in fragmentation. Although Google claims that it bought Motorola for its warchest of patents (to arm itself in a patent war which can also be traced to Apple), it’s quite obvious that Google is facing pressure from consumers as to where Android is headed. This acquisition is an extremely risky move for Google. For one, it is already shoving its way into so many different industries - it currently faces Microsoft in productivity apps, Facebook in social networking, traditional media in advertising, and now Apple in mobile technology. If Google creates its first true Google phone, it will alienate the Android OEMs who have relied so much on it, and they will be forced to look for alternative OS licenses they could cooperate with. With its acquisition of Motorola, Google has acquired heavy artillery in what increasingly seems to be a two-horse race with Apple, but at what expense? It may have already compromised its core value of openness and incorporated the Apple way. By trying to beat Apple, Google might just have fallen into Apple’s walled garden.

With the case of HP shedding WebOS and its PC business, it’s simply waving the white flag at Apple. Before this morning, it was an unthinkable proposition: the world’s biggest PC company will be getting rid of its PC business. HP has simply given up in the face of Apple’s sheer dominance. PC sales are on the decline, along with profit margins. Meanwhile, Macbook sales continue to increase, and the Ipad is at the forefront of a tablet revolution that will rewire the computing industry. The HP Touchpad, on the other hand, was dead on arrival. It cannot even hope to compete with the slew of Android tablets manufactured by every OEM you could name. Hardware is a red ocean, and HP is tired of the bloodbath. It is now remodelling itself to be the next IBM, which had the foresight to focus on enterprise and succeed on its own terms.

Why has Apple been so successful? In this choice-ridden world, people prefer a consistent and trustworthy experience above all. Apple has always been known for the quality of its products, but it now competes on price as well. It outsources manufacturing - the most costly, labor-intensive part of its operation - to Foxconn, but controls everything else. With Apple at the center, it has integrated its hardware, operating system, software applications, media, retail experience, and after-sales service in such an optimal way that it has achieved the holy grail of business – winning on price, quality, and customer service. Apple has done all these through a successful marriage of opposites: technology and liberal arts, to result in another set of opposites: a brand that is aspirational yet market-leading. These combinations are nearly impossible to beat, and with this momentum Apple will only get more powerful.

Having said all these, let me categorically state that I used to hate Apple. I am not a fan of the walled garden at all. I don’t like the idea of losing control to this tech giant which thinks it knows what is best for me, a tech giant which basically stomps on industry standards (such as Flash and the optical drive) and chomps on sales of apps which it did not help create. I’m really hoping for the emergence of a super-company that will challenge Apple’s dominance and eventually knock it off its throne. Google-Motorola and Microsoft-Nokia are the best bets, but even when combined, none of them could hope to reach the seamlessness of the Apple experience. The company has just grown more popular and powerful than ever; its Midas touch has radically shaken many industries in recent years. And with each new product Apple releases, I grow more and more convinced of its vision for the future of technology.

With the PC and the World Wide Web at the center, the internet age has opened up the world in unprecedented ways. It has put the common people in charge as freedom and openness reign supreme. Consumers have an endless multitude of choices and customizations to choose from. With the rise of Apple, it has completely reversed the zeitgeist. Our open world has gone back to the era where one entity dominates everything. Instead of the universally open web, the Apple apps are controlled capsules each with a different world inside. Of course, Apple is a benevolent tyrant and we are more than happy to hand in the reins. We let it dictate what we want and curate the experience for us. With HP’s announcement today, the PC era is officially over, and with the post-PC world we see a refinement of the pre-PC world. Instead of total control or absolute openness, Apple has provided a new way: controlled openness. We come to realize that maybe we do need Apple’s iron hand to manage this chaotic, choice-ridden world. We need its vision to lead the way.

What convinced me the most about Apple’s vision is the irony of how Apple the tyrant has actually democratized computing. Nowadays, anyone with a good idea can submit an app and succeed. A toddler can handle an Ipad as adeptly as a Computer Science PhD. Apple has pushed computing to the mainstream, with none of the technical jargon, specifications, and customizations that we could mostly do without. Apple has been the perfect middleman by getting rid of the middleman. Nowadays, it’s just you and your content, with none of the intimidating technical clutter in between. Apple has humanized computing and succeeded immensely. It is at the epicenter of the post-PC world, and beyond all these earthshaking buyouts and sell-offs a new world beckons.