The epitaph for the USB memory stick, also known as a flash drive, might read as follows:
“Gone but not forgotten – you allowed us to carry our entire digital lives in a space the size of our thumbs…”
So why the epitaph for a flash drive? Sadly, they are on their way out, for several reasons.
1) Apple, one of the pioneers of usability, no longer supports USB devices in their flagship product, the iPad. Surely they didn’t overlook this feature, but rather they recognized that…
2) Wireless Internet access is so prevalent that no longer do we need to carry our data with us, we can simply access it over the Internet. Data like email through Gmail, pictures on Flickr, documents via Dropbox – it’s all accessible through an Internet connection.
1a) Oh, and I forgot to mention that Apple has killed other long-standing technologies by not including them in their devices: floppy disks, serial ports, dial-up modems, shrink-wrap software, etc.
Does that mean USB flash drives will disappear tomorrow? Heavens no. I have three laying on my desk and two more in my pocket as I write this article. They are still incredibly useful, but I do see a day where we won’t carry any data on our persons – it will all be accessible through Internet-connected appliances (laptops, iPads, smartphones, etc.).
What are your thoughts?
Isaac: All of these features that the IPad has eliminated are reasons why I would never buy one to be my sole computer. I like USB ports so I can store and keep my own data. I do not trust nor ever liked the idea of saving my documents on a “cloud.” It is a system that I believe will be regularly hacked. A USB port can also be used to attach an external WiFi antenna to a laptop when one is in an area where the WiFi router is at some distance. An IPad user would be stuck trying to use the tiny little antenna which must certainly be inside the tiny little IPad and be unhappy when no service is available. I know that the IPad can use cell phone signals to connect to the Internet. This is something I consider archaic and it adds more and more users to plug up an already overworked network. The IPad’s on-screen keyboard is so tiny that one can use only the hunt-and-peck typing system. I wouldn’t buy one even if it was free.
Clark B, if you’re using a USB port, you’re doing it wrong.
I use multiple computers as well as the cloud (Google Apps & Dropbox) for syncing and storage. However, I don’t believe that the USB memory stick (or other devices that connect via USB) are on the way out. Transferring 40Gb of information from one computer to another is much faster and easier with a USB drive than trying to upload then re-download.
Considering that Windows operating systems are still used by about 84% of the world (http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp), the iPad argument doesn’t work.
If a device does not offer a USB port, I’m not buying it, but the death of the CD/DVD drive, I could live with. Not only would the lack of a USB port not allow the use of memory sticks, but it would not allow the use of many other devices. Until the time when everything I’d like to be able to attach to a computer does so using bluetooth, I won’t be calling USB a thing of the past.
The cloud is all well and good when you live in a city with multiple broadband provider options. Not so great in the rural areas where bandwidth and options are limited. Besides, I will never trust the cloud to be the sole copy of any information that is important to me.
Issac,
Another Ifan who worships all that is apple. It’s just a company, it doesn’t change lives, it pushes overpriced simple electronics in a convincing manner to the public. They are very good with marketing. Maybe they helped push the downfall of some options with computers to a very small degree but it is not the end all you think it is and you are spreading ignorance. Floppy discs, really? Apple had nothing to do with that, Sony and Philips worked together to make the CD which replaced floppy’s. Apple didn’t have the cash flow to buy the patent at the time to claim it invented something. But back to the Pad, it does not replace a laptop, PC, or misc. Yes you can watch movies and play music when you are out and about….wow. I can do that with my phone, PSP, etc. But without USB support to move files around, boo. Cloud is not the end all being that it’s too easily hacked, not private and if it goes down you could lose it all. So your “opinion” seems wrong to me. USB will be around for a long time as a way to personally store information let alone transfer it. But, opinions are like Appholes, everyone knows one….
“Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.” — Andrew Tanenbaum
Also, Apple didn’t kill anything. They don’t have the power to do that. In the Third World, floppies were frequently used until a couple years ago. Apple does not exist in the Third World because their products are simply too expensive. And the Third World still command a huge portion of the global economy.