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[Lewis]

Apple Sounds the PC Death Knell

If Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, gets his way, the PC could be on its last legs.

For over two years now, Mr. Jobs and other Apple executives have been pushing the concept of a “post-PC era” where most people no longer have, or need, traditional computers and instead engage with the digital world though iPhones, iPods and iPads.

Although the company has been discussing this concept for some time, it has not offered a solution to ditch the PC and go completely mobile. Apple iOS mobile device still needed a PC to transfer or back up music, photos, videos and other files.

Until now, that is.

On Monday, during a presentation in San Francisco to showcase its new software and services, Apple finally began giving people the option to bypass a PC altogether.

“We are going to demote the PC to just be a device. We are going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud,” Mr. Jobs said.

Once these new services begin later this fall, people who buy an iOS device can fully get by without a computer. They will no longer need to plug an iOS device into a PC to activate it; iCloud will automatically sync and backup people’s photos, music and documents. All software will be updated over the Internet.

With Monday’s announcement’s, Apple is reiterating the irrelevance of the personal computer that Mr. Jobs helped invent 30 years ago.

But where is the PC going to go? There has obviously been some argument about Apple’s computerless society theory, with many saying the traditional computer isn’t going the way of the dodo, but instead will become a secondary device to mobile gadgetry.

Apple also can’t believe the PC is going away completely. If the company did see this future, they would not have also announced updates to the Mac OS X software on Monday.

Scott Forstall, the senior vice president of iOS software, summed up the company’s belief during the conference saying that “We are living in a post PC world.” Mr. Forstall noted that a number of iPad owners don’t even have a PC in their home. ”Now, if you want to cut the cord, you can,” he said.

For Mr. Jobs, who has likened the PC to a pickup truck used only for work, it really could be the beginning of the end for the home computer.