Apple aims to dominate post-PC era

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is predicting that the world is about to shift into a “post-PC” era, thanks in part to software his firm is making.

Jobs was speaking at the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, where he unveiled new versions of its iPhone and iPad operating system, iOS 5, an update to its MacOS operating system, codenamed Lion, and a new cloud service, iCloud.

Many of the new features in iOS 5 will bring the operating system back in line with advances made by competitors such as Microsoft and Google, said Nick Dillion, an analyst with Ovum.

These features include advanced messaging services, integration with cloud services and over-the-air updates.

“While the majority of new features borrow heavily from the innovations of Apple’s competitors, the popularity of the iOS platform, which is now on 200 million devices, and the company’s ability to deliver excellent user experience, means they will undoubtedly prove popular,” he said.

“Perhaps iOS 5’s paramount feature is that it’s built to seamlessly work with iCloud in the post-PC revolution that Apple is leading,” said Jobs.

Apple’s iCloud service will allow users of iPhone, iPads, Macs and PCs to automatically and wirelessly synchronise content across multiple devices. That content could include photos, emails, calendars and apps.

“Apple reckons it has sounded the death knell of the PC,” said Richard Holway of analyst group TechMarketViews. “For 30 years, almost every user has had one central PC from which an increasing array of devices are synced. iCloud makes that redundant. Now you don’t need a PC at all – all you need is a Wi-Fi network and iCloud. If I was Microsoft I would have gone from concern to downright despair.”

Apple has made significant inroads in the enterprise, thanks mainly to the popularity of its mobile devices, including the iPhone and iPad.

Apple also added more details about its forthcoming OS X upgrade, known as Lion, which it confirmed will include more support for multi-touch gestures and a feature called Mission Control, which allows users to see every app and window running on their Mac.