Since when can you call a 30 year old – OLD ? In the prime of my youth I am being written off.  And people say I am dying , dead – and I am  all of 30.

I was actually born thanks to the brain power of the two Steve’s in 1976.

Apple 1 & Apple II were runaway success stories and big blue saw this. Aug 12, 1981 – IBM launched the IBM PC and since then the Personal Computer has been history. Jan 3, 1983 issue Time magazine named me ” Person of the year 1982″ – this was the 1st time an inanimate object was given this award. And the 1st Mac was launched in 1984 – that redefined ease of use. The Mac just turned 30 and continues to be the most user friendly PC in the world.

IBM was smart – they got my brain made from Intel and the Operating System for MS and made the entire architecture open. This helped a lot of companies – Compaq, HP , DELL , Packard Bell , Gateway , Lenovo , Toshiba ….. and many more to make PC’s. They were all the same using the same Processors and MS Operating system.

In the 80’s there were large R&D teams working on me , the FDD was replaced with the CD ROM  & Zip drive, my hard disk capacity became bigger , I became sleeker from plug in boards to Single Board architecture , Green design reduced my power consumption. But the biggest last Innovation that happened on me was when Toshiba launched the Laptop in 1985. That changed the PC Industry – I was now mobile , people could carry me. This helped my sales grow rapidly. Last I checked – 70 % of PC’s sold in the world are laptops.

But sadly that was the last major innovation that happened. yes Intel and Moore’s law made the CPU faster and MS came with new versions of Windows and Office every 2 – 3 years . But that was it – beyond that there was no Innovation. The R&D team at Compaq, DELL , HP, Acer  were slowly disbanded. I was no longer Hi tech – I became a commodity. A commodity that still sells in Millions.  In OND 2013 I sold over 80 M units WW. Till date there are well over 1 B people who cannot live without me for even a day. Yes th. e PC sales are slowing down – but most people don’t realise that the Mac is continuing to grow in MS – tarts because Apple still continues to innovate and redesign the mac every year. If you don’t nurture me – how will I grow ?

Look at my contribution to the world. Would the world GDP be where it is today without me ? Would commerce , banking , trade , education, entertainment  have flourished without me ?  The WWW could not have existed without me. And think of a world without the WWW. Most people call me a commodity – some even compare me to a phone – they call me dumb . Ouch – That hurts.

Tablets are the new kid in town. Yes they continue to grow. Last quarter at 76.9M units they are on the verge of bypassing me in quarterly sales. But you think a Tablet can replace a PC. I challenge you – throw your PC out and try to live with a Tablet – no way you can a manage.  Remember the presentation Steve Jobs when he launched the iPad ? he said that the the Tablet is a new category that fits in beautifully between a  Mac (PC)  & an iPhone( Smartphone).

A tablet is great for browsing , email , social networking, sharing photos , reading books, playing games. yes its easier to watch a movie inflight on a  tablet than on a laptop – a Tablet is mainly for consumption of information. I am great at both creating and consuming information. I have a longer life , more power , greater utility. I am the serious guy – the Tablet is just the fun guy. Great to flirt and date with the Tablet – but when you ant to marry and settle down you have to choose me. I can do all the Tablet does and more. And as Smart Phone size gets bigger the growth of the Tablet is bound to come down. If I can get sleeker and smaller and the Smartphone can get bigger – we can squeeze out this new kid in town.

I don’t know why people stopped innovating on me. I could have grown to be the integrated TV , Phone , VC system in the house.  Think of me as the central unit in the house that powers all your communication needs. All other devices are tertiary that cloud plug on to me like an add on. I would be the HUB.  And look at it I am the HUB – iTunes  can run only on a  Mac or a PC and if the iPad, iPhone , iPod , Apple TV need to work they need to connect to me as the HUB. I am indispensable. I am glad that at least Apple is working and innovating on me constantly. But with the others I feel orphaned – Intel , MS and all the big guys of the past have abandoned me in my middle ages. Now I see the advantage of one company owning hardware and software and the power of integrated technology. I hope you do too.

So don’t write me off . I am just 30. They say life begins at 40 – I am not going anywhere. I just wish a few more  Steve’s came and gave me a new look and packed me with some new powerful features with which I could serve humanity better.

Your Humbly

The PC